Introducing AND International Publishers (AMS:AND), The Stock That Tanked 83%

As an investor, mistakes are inevitable. But you want to avoid the really big losses like the plague. So consider, for a moment, the misfortune of AND International Publishers N.V. (AMS:AND) investors who have held the stock for three years as it declined a whopping 83%. That might cause some serious doubts about the merits of the initial decision to buy the stock, to put it mildly. The more recent news is of little comfort, with the share price down 52% in a year. Furthermore, it's down 33% in about a quarter. That's not much fun for holders. But this could be related to the weak market, which is down 22% in the same period.

While a drop like that is definitely a body blow, money isn't as important as health and happiness.

See our latest analysis for AND International Publishers

Given that AND International Publishers 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. Generally speaking, companies without profits are expected to grow revenue every year, and at a good clip. That's because fast revenue growth can be easily extrapolated to forecast profits, often of considerable size.

Over the last three years, AND International Publishers's revenue dropped 70% per year. That's definitely a weaker result than most pre-profit companies report. And as you might expect the share price has been weak too, dropping at a rate of 45% per year. We prefer leave it to clowns to try to catch falling knives, like this stock. There is a good reason that investors often describe buying a sharply falling stock price as 'trying to catch a falling knife'. Think about it.

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

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

We regret to report that AND International Publishers shareholders are down 52% for the year. Unfortunately, that's worse than the broader market decline of 19%. Having said that, it's inevitable that some stocks will be oversold in a falling market. The key is to keep your eyes on the fundamental developments. Unfortunately, last year's performance may indicate unresolved challenges, given that it was worse than the annualised loss of 16% over the last half decade. We realise that Baron Rothschild has said investors should "buy when there is blood on the streets", but we caution that investors should first be sure they are buying a high quality business. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand AND International Publishers better, we need to consider many other factors. For example, we've discovered 4 warning signs for AND International Publishers (2 are potentially serious!) that you should be aware of before investing here.

Of course AND International Publishers 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 NL exchanges.

If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned.

We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Thank you for reading.