Further weakness as cyan (ETR:CYR) drops 12% this week, taking five-year losses to 76%

Long term investing is the way to go, but that doesn't mean you should hold every stock forever. We don't wish catastrophic capital loss on anyone. Imagine if you held cyan AG (ETR:CYR) for half a decade as the share price tanked 77%. On top of that, the share price is down 12% in the last week.

Since cyan has shed €6.9m 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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cyan 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 five years cyan saw its revenue shrink by 36% per year. That's definitely a weaker result than most pre-profit companies report. So it's not altogether surprising to see the share price down 12% per year in the same time period. We don't think this is a particularly promising picture. Ironically, that behavior could create an opportunity for the contrarian investor - but only if there are good reasons to predict a brighter future.

The graphic below depicts how earnings and revenue have changed over time (unveil the exact values by clicking on the image).

You can see how its balance sheet has strengthened (or weakened) over time in this free interactive graphic.

A Different Perspective

cyan shareholders gained a total return of 2.7% during the year. But that was short of the market average. But at least that's still a gain! Over five years the TSR has been a reduction of 12% per year, over five years. So this might be a sign the business has turned its fortunes around. I find it very interesting to look at share price over the long term as a proxy for business performance. But to truly gain insight, we need to consider other information, too. Take risks, for example - cyan has 2 warning signs we think you should be aware of.

Of course cyan may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see this free collection of growth stocks.

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.