Shareholders in Bellevue Gold (ASX:BGL) have lost 54%, as stock drops 12% this past week

Taking the occasional loss comes part and parcel with investing on the stock market. Unfortunately, shareholders of Bellevue Gold Limited (ASX:BGL) have suffered share price declines over the last year. In that relatively short period, the share price has plunged 54%. At least the damage isn't so bad if you look at the last three years, since the stock is down 1.1% in that time. Shareholders have had an even rougher run lately, with the share price down 32% in the last 90 days.

Since Bellevue Gold has shed AU$148m from its value in the past 7 days, let's see if the longer term decline has been driven by the business' economics.

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To quote Buffett, 'Ships will sail around the world but the Flat Earth Society will flourish. There will continue to be wide discrepancies between price and value in the marketplace...' One flawed but reasonable way to assess how sentiment around a company has changed is to compare the earnings per share (EPS) with the share price.

During the last year Bellevue Gold grew its earnings per share, moving from a loss to a profit.

When a company has just transitioned to profitability, earnings per share growth is not always the best way to look at the share price action. But we may find different metrics more enlightening.

Bellevue Gold's revenue is actually up 861% over the last year. Since we can't easily explain the share price movement based on these metrics, it might be worth considering how market sentiment has changed towards the stock.

You can see how earnings and revenue have changed over time in the image below (click on the chart to see the exact values).

Bellevue Gold is a well known stock, with plenty of analyst coverage, suggesting some visibility into future growth. So it makes a lot of sense to check out what analysts think Bellevue Gold will earn in the future (free analyst consensus estimates)

A Different Perspective

Bellevue Gold shareholders are down 54% for the year, but the market itself is up 9.5%. Even the share prices of good stocks drop sometimes, but we want to see improvements in the fundamental metrics of a business, before getting too interested. On the bright side, long term shareholders have made money, with a gain of 5% per year over half a decade. It could be that the recent sell-off is an opportunity, so it may be worth checking the fundamental data for signs of a long term growth trend. Before spending more time on Bellevue Gold it might be wise to click here to see if insiders have been buying or selling shares.

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Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on Australian exchanges.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.