Vera Bradley (NASDAQ:VRA investor one-year losses grow to 62% as the stock sheds US$10.0m this past week

Taking the occasional loss comes part and parcel with investing on the stock market. Unfortunately, shareholders of Vera Bradley, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRA) have suffered share price declines over the last year. The share price has slid 62% in that time. Even if you look out three years, the returns are still disappointing, with the share price down60% in that time. Furthermore, it's down 47% in about a quarter. That's not much fun for holders.

With the stock having lost 11% in the past week, it's worth taking a look at business performance and seeing if there's any red flags.

View our latest analysis for Vera Bradley

Given that Vera Bradley 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. 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.

Vera Bradley's revenue didn't grow at all in the last year. In fact, it fell 16%. That looks pretty grim, at a glance. In the absence of profits, it's not unreasonable that the share price fell 62%. Having said that, if growth is coming in the future, the stock may have better days ahead. We don't generally like to own companies with falling revenues and no profits, so we're pretty cautious of this one, at the moment.

You can see how earnings and revenue have changed over time in the image below (click on the chart to see the exact values).

Take a more thorough look at Vera Bradley's financial health with this free report on its balance sheet.

A Different Perspective

Investors in Vera Bradley had a tough year, with a total loss of 62%, against a market gain of about 16%. 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 9% 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 Vera Bradley better, we need to consider many other factors. Consider risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 1 warning sign for Vera Bradley you should know about.

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