Veru (NASDAQ:VERU) shareholders are up 21% this past week, but still in the red over the last three years

This week we saw the Veru Inc. (NASDAQ:VERU) share price climb by 21%. But the last three years have seen a terrible decline. In that time the share price has melted like a snowball in the desert, down 90%. Arguably, the recent bounce is to be expected after such a bad drop. Only time will tell if the company can sustain the turnaround. While a drop like that is definitely a body blow, money isn't as important as health and happiness.

On a more encouraging note the company has added US$23m to its market cap in just the last 7 days, so let's see if we can determine what's driven the three-year loss for shareholders.

See our latest analysis for Veru

Veru isn't currently profitable, so most analysts would look to revenue growth to get an idea of how fast the underlying business is growing. When a company doesn't make profits, we'd generally hope to see good revenue growth. As you can imagine, fast revenue growth, when maintained, often leads to fast profit growth.

In the last three years Veru saw its revenue shrink by 57% per year. That means its revenue trend is very weak compared to other loss making companies. And as you might expect the share price has been weak too, dropping at a rate of 24% 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.

You can see below how earnings and revenue have changed over time (discover the exact values by clicking on the image).

You can see how its balance sheet has strengthened (or weakened) over time in this free interactive graphic.

A Different Perspective

Veru provided a TSR of 12% over the last twelve months. But that was short of the market average. But at least that's still a gain! Over five years the TSR has been a reduction of 9% per year, over five years. So this might be a sign the business has turned its fortunes around. While it is well worth considering the different impacts that market conditions can have on the share price, there are other factors that are even more important. Even so, be aware that Veru is showing 3 warning signs in our investment analysis , and 2 of those are a bit unpleasant...

If you are like me, then you will not want to miss this free list of undervalued small caps that insiders are buying.

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.