While shareholders of Ambipar Participações e Empreendimentos (BVMF:AMBP3) are in the black over 3 years, those who bought a week ago aren't so fortunate

Generally speaking, investors are inspired to be stock pickers by the potential to find the big winners. But when you hold the right stock for the right time period, the rewards can be truly huge. One bright shining star stock has been Ambipar Participações e Empreendimentos S.A. (BVMF:AMBP3), which is 448% higher than three years ago. Also pleasing for shareholders was the 14% gain in the last three months.

Since the long term performance has been good but there's been a recent pullback of 8.9%, let's check if the fundamentals match the share price.

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Because Ambipar Participações e Empreendimentos made a loss in the last twelve months, we think the market is probably more focussed on revenue and revenue growth, at least for now. Shareholders of unprofitable companies usually desire strong revenue growth. As you can imagine, fast revenue growth, when maintained, often leads to fast profit growth.

Ambipar Participações e Empreendimentos' revenue trended up 29% each year over three years. That's well above most pre-profit companies. And it's not just the revenue that is taking off. The share price is up 76% per year in that time. Despite the strong run, top performers like Ambipar Participações e Empreendimentos have been known to go on winning for decades. So we'd recommend you take a closer look at this one, or even put it on your watchlist.

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

Take a more thorough look at Ambipar Participações e Empreendimentos' financial health with this free report on its balance sheet.

What About The Total Shareholder Return (TSR)?

We've already covered Ambipar Participações e Empreendimentos' share price action, but we should also mention its total shareholder return (TSR). Arguably the TSR is a more complete return calculation because it accounts for the value of dividends (as if they were reinvested), along with the hypothetical value of any discounted capital that have been offered to shareholders. Ambipar Participações e Empreendimentos' TSR of 513% for the 3 years exceeded its share price return, because it has paid dividends.

A Different Perspective

It's nice to see that Ambipar Participações e Empreendimentos shareholders have received a total shareholder return of 78% over the last year. That's better than the annualised return of 43% over half a decade, implying that the company is doing better recently. Someone with an optimistic perspective could view the recent improvement in TSR as indicating that the business itself is getting better with time. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Ambipar Participações e Empreendimentos better, we need to consider many other factors. Even so, be aware that Ambipar Participações e Empreendimentos is showing 1 warning sign in our investment analysis , you should know about...

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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 Brazilian 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.