Compagnie de l'Odet (EPA:ODET) shareholders are still up 115% over 5 years despite pulling back 3.6% in the past week

The most you can lose on any stock (assuming you don't use leverage) is 100% of your money. But on the bright side, if you buy shares in a high quality company at the right price, you can gain well over 100%. For example, the Compagnie de l'Odet (EPA:ODET) share price has soared 112% in the last half decade. Most would be very happy with that. Unfortunately, though, the stock has dropped 3.6% over a week. But note that the broader market is down 3.9% since last week, and this may have impacted Compagnie de l'Odet's share price.

Although Compagnie de l'Odet has shed €229m from its market cap this week, let's take a look at its longer term fundamental trends and see if they've driven returns.

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Because Compagnie de l'Odet 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. Generally speaking, companies without profits are expected to grow revenue every year, and at a good clip. 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 the last half decade Compagnie de l'Odet's revenue has actually been trending down at about 22% per year. Given that scenario, we wouldn't have expected the share price to rise 16% per year, but that's what it did. It's a good reminder that expectations about the future, not the past history, always impact share prices. Still, we are a bit cautious in this kind of situation.

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

This free interactive report on Compagnie de l'Odet's balance sheet strength is a great place to start, if you want to investigate the stock further.

What About Dividends?

As well as measuring the share price return, investors should also consider the total shareholder return (TSR). The TSR is a return calculation that accounts for the value of cash dividends (assuming that any dividend received was reinvested) and the calculated value of any discounted capital raisings and spin-offs. So for companies that pay a generous dividend, the TSR is often a lot higher than the share price return. As it happens, Compagnie de l'Odet's TSR for the last 5 years was 115%, which exceeds the share price return mentioned earlier. This is largely a result of its dividend payments!

A Different Perspective

Compagnie de l'Odet shareholders are up 2.9% for the year (even including dividends). Unfortunately this falls short of the market return. It's probably a good sign that the company has an even better long term track record, having provided shareholders with an annual TSR of 17% over five years. Maybe the share price is just taking a breather while the business executes on its growth strategy. You might want to assess this data-rich visualization of its earnings, revenue and cash flow.

If you would prefer to check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss this free list of companies that have proven they can grow earnings.

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.