Even after rising 14% this past week, DBV Technologies (EPA:DBV) shareholders are still down 80% over the past five years

While it may not be enough for some shareholders, we think it is good to see the DBV Technologies S.A. (EPA:DBV) share price up 28% in a single quarter. But that doesn't change the fact that the returns over the last half decade have been stomach churning. In fact, the share price has tumbled down a mountain to land 80% lower after that period. While the recent increase might be a green shoot, we're certainly hesitant to rejoice. The fundamental business performance will ultimately determine if the turnaround can be sustained.

The recent uptick of 14% could be a positive sign of things to come, so let's take a look at historical fundamentals.

Check out our latest analysis for DBV Technologies

DBV Technologies isn't currently profitable, so most analysts would look to revenue growth to get an idea of how fast the underlying business is growing. When a company doesn't make profits, we'd generally hope to see good revenue growth. That's because it's hard to be confident a company will be sustainable if revenue growth is negligible, and it never makes a profit.

Over half a decade DBV Technologies reduced its trailing twelve month revenue by 6.4% for each year. That's not what investors generally want to see. If a business loses money, you want it to grow, so no surprises that the share price has dropped 12% each year in that time. We're generally averse to companies with declining revenues, but we're not alone in that. That is not really what the successful investors we know aim for.

The company's revenue and earnings (over time) are depicted in the image below (click to see the exact numbers).

Take a more thorough look at DBV Technologies' financial health with this free report on its balance sheet.

A Different Perspective

While the broader market gained around 1.6% in the last year, DBV Technologies shareholders lost 45%. However, keep in mind that even the best stocks will sometimes underperform the market over a twelve month period. Unfortunately, last year's performance may indicate unresolved challenges, given that it was worse than the annualised loss of 12% over the last half decade. Generally speaking long term share price weakness can be a bad sign, though contrarian investors might want to research the stock in hope of a turnaround. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand DBV Technologies better, we need to consider many other factors. Even so, be aware that DBV Technologies is showing 4 warning signs in our investment analysis , and 2 of those don't sit too well with us...

Of course DBV Technologies 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 French 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.