Repro India (NSE:REPRO investor one-year losses grow to 41% as the stock sheds ₹779m this past week

The simplest way to benefit from a rising market is to buy an index fund. But if you buy individual stocks, you can do both better or worse than that. That downside risk was realized by Repro India Limited (NSE:REPRO) shareholders over the last year, as the share price declined 41%. That's well below the market return of 2.8%. On the other hand, the stock is actually up 2.8% over three years. Shareholders have had an even rougher run lately, with the share price down 12% in the last 90 days. But this could be related to the weak market, which is down 6.5% in the same period.

After losing 10% this past week, it's worth investigating the company's fundamentals to see what we can infer from past performance.

View our latest analysis for Repro India

Given that Repro India didn't make a profit in the last twelve months, we'll focus on revenue growth to form a quick view of its business development. When a company doesn't make profits, we'd generally hope to see good revenue growth. Some companies are willing to postpone profitability to grow revenue faster, but in that case one would hope for good top-line growth to make up for the lack of earnings.

Repro India's revenue didn't grow at all in the last year. In fact, it fell 0.4%. That's not what investors generally want to see. The stock price has languished lately, falling 41% in a year. That seems pretty reasonable given the lack of both profits and revenue growth. It's hard to escape the conclusion that buyers must envision either growth down the track, cost cutting, or both.

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

Balance sheet strength is crucial. It might be well worthwhile taking a look at our free report on how its financial position has changed over time.

A Different Perspective

While the broader market gained around 2.8% in the last year, Repro India shareholders lost 41%. 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 3% 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. 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. Case in point: We've spotted 1 warning sign for Repro India you should be aware of.

For those who like to find winning investments this free list of undervalued companies with recent insider purchasing, could be just the ticket.

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