Even after rising 3.1% this past week, AB Electrolux (STO:ELUX B) shareholders are still down 44% over the past five years

While it may not be enough for some shareholders, we think it is good to see the AB Electrolux (publ) (STO:ELUX B) share price up 11% in a single quarter. But if you look at the last five years the returns have not been good. After all, the share price is down 61% in that time, significantly under-performing the market.

While the last five years has been tough for AB Electrolux shareholders, this past week has shown signs of promise. So let's look at the longer term fundamentals and see if they've been the driver of the negative returns.

See our latest analysis for AB Electrolux

Because AB Electrolux 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 fast revenue growth can be easily extrapolated to forecast profits, often of considerable size.

Over five years, AB Electrolux grew its revenue at 4.3% per year. That's not a very high growth rate considering it doesn't make profits. This lacklustre growth has no doubt fueled the loss of 10% per year, in that time. We'd want to see proof that future revenue growth is likely to be significantly stronger before getting too interested in AB Electrolux. When a stock falls hard like this, some investors like to add the company to a watchlist (in case the business recovers, longer term).

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

AB Electrolux is well known by investors, and plenty of clever analysts have tried to predict the future profit levels. So we recommend checking out this free report showing consensus forecasts

What About The Total Shareholder Return (TSR)?

We've already covered AB Electrolux's share price action, but we should also mention its total shareholder return (TSR). Arguably the TSR is a more complete return calculation because it accounts for the value of dividends (as if they were reinvested), along with the hypothetical value of any discounted capital that have been offered to shareholders. AB Electrolux's TSR of was a loss of 44% for the 5 years. That wasn't as bad as its share price return, because it has paid dividends.

A Different Perspective

AB Electrolux shareholders are down 5.7% for the year, but the market itself is up 34%. Even the share prices of good stocks drop sometimes, but we want to see improvements in the fundamental metrics of a business, before getting too interested. However, the loss over the last year isn't as bad as the 8% per annum loss investors have suffered over the last half decade. We'd need to see some sustained improvements in the key metrics before we could muster much enthusiasm. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand AB Electrolux better, we need to consider many other factors. For example, we've discovered 1 warning sign for AB Electrolux that you should be aware of before investing here.

But note: AB Electrolux may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies with past earnings growth (and further growth forecast).

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