Even though Nordex (ETR:NDX1) has lost €168m market cap in last 7 days, shareholders are still up 33% over 1 year

The simplest way to invest in stocks is to buy exchange traded funds. But you can significantly boost your returns by picking above-average stocks. For example, the Nordex SE (ETR:NDX1) share price is up 33% in the last 1 year, clearly besting the market return of around 12% (not including dividends). If it can keep that out-performance up over the long term, investors will do very well! The longer term returns have not been as good, with the stock price only 2.1% higher than it was three years ago.

While the stock has fallen 5.0% this week, it's worth focusing on the longer term and seeing if the stocks historical returns have been driven by the underlying fundamentals.

View our latest analysis for Nordex

Nordex isn't currently profitable, so most analysts would look to revenue growth to get an idea of how fast the underlying business is growing. Shareholders of unprofitable companies usually desire strong revenue growth. As you can imagine, fast revenue growth, when maintained, often leads to fast profit growth.

In the last year Nordex saw its revenue grow by 13%. That's not a very high growth rate considering it doesn't make profits. In keeping with the revenue growth, the share price gained 33% in that time. That's not a standout result, but it is solid - much like the level of revenue growth. It could be worth keeping an eye on this one, especially if growth accelerates.

The image below shows how earnings and revenue have tracked over time (if you click on the image you can see greater detail).

It's probably worth noting that the CEO is paid less than the median at similar sized companies. It's always worth keeping an eye on CEO pay, but a more important question is whether the company will grow earnings throughout the years. If you are thinking of buying or selling Nordex stock, you should check out this free report showing analyst profit forecasts.

A Different Perspective

It's nice to see that Nordex shareholders have received a total shareholder return of 33% over the last year. That's better than the annualised return of 7% 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. You could get a better understanding of Nordex's growth by checking out this more detailed historical graph of earnings, revenue and cash flow.

But note: Nordex may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies with past earnings growth (and further growth forecast).

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