Shareholders in Adaptive Biotechnologies (NASDAQ:ADPT) have lost 90%, as stock drops 7.4% this past week

While it may not be enough for some shareholders, we think it is good to see the Adaptive Biotechnologies Corporation (NASDAQ:ADPT) share price up 20% in a single quarter. But that doesn't change the fact that the returns over the last half decade have been stomach churning. Indeed, the share price is down a whopping 90% in that time. It's true that the recent bounce could signal the company is turning over a new leaf, but we are not so sure. The important question is if the business itself justifies a higher share price in the long term. We really feel for shareholders in this scenario. It's a good reminder of the importance of diversification, and it's worth keeping in mind there's more to life than money, anyway.

After losing 7.4% this past week, it's worth investigating the company's fundamentals to see what we can infer from past performance.

See our latest analysis for Adaptive Biotechnologies

Adaptive Biotechnologies isn't currently profitable, so most analysts would look to revenue growth to get an idea of how fast the underlying business is growing. 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.

In the last half decade, Adaptive Biotechnologies saw its revenue increase by 18% per year. That's better than most loss-making companies. So it's not at all clear to us why the share price sunk 14% throughout that time. It could be that the stock was over-hyped before. While there might be an opportunity here, you'd want to take a close look at the balance sheet strength.

The company's revenue and earnings (over time) are depicted in the image below (click to see the exact numbers).

Take a more thorough look at Adaptive Biotechnologies' financial health with this free report on its balance sheet.

A Different Perspective

Investors in Adaptive Biotechnologies had a tough year, with a total loss of 28%, against a market gain of about 23%. 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 14% 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 Adaptive Biotechnologies better, we need to consider many other factors. Case in point: We've spotted 1 warning sign for Adaptive Biotechnologies you should be aware of.

Of course Adaptive Biotechnologies 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 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.