Blueprint Medicines (NASDAQ:BPMC investor three-year losses grow to 18% as the stock sheds US$334m this past week

For many investors, the main point of stock picking is to generate higher returns than the overall market. But in any portfolio, there are likely to be some stocks that fall short of that benchmark. Unfortunately, that's been the case for longer term Blueprint Medicines Corporation (NASDAQ:BPMC) shareholders, since the share price is down 18% in the last three years, falling well short of the market return of around 22%. And the share price decline continued over the last week, dropping some 5.5%. However, this move may have been influenced by the broader market, which fell 2.7% in that time.

After losing 5.5% 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 Blueprint Medicines

Blueprint Medicines 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. 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.

Over three years, Blueprint Medicines grew revenue at 28% per year. That's well above most other pre-profit companies. The share price drop of 6% per year over three years would be considered disappointing by many, so you might argue the company is getting little credit for its impressive revenue growth. It seems likely that actual growth fell short of shareholders' expectations. Still, with high hopes now tempered, now might prove to be an opportunity to buy.

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

Blueprint Medicines is a well known stock, with plenty of analyst coverage, suggesting some visibility into future growth. You can see what analysts are predicting for Blueprint Medicines in this interactive graph of future profit estimates.

A Different Perspective

Blueprint Medicines shareholders are up 1.5% for the year. But that was short of the market average. It's probably a good sign that the company has an even better long term track record, having provided shareholders with an annual TSR of 2% over five years. Maybe the share price is just taking a breather while the business executes on its growth strategy. I find it very interesting to look at share price over the long term as a proxy for business performance. But to truly gain insight, we need to consider other information, too. To that end, you should be aware of the 1 warning sign we've spotted with Blueprint Medicines .

Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking elsewhere. So take a peek at this free list of companies we expect will grow earnings.

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.