Can You Imagine How Chuffed Esperion Therapeutics's (NASDAQ:ESPR) Shareholders Feel About Its 190% Share Price Gain?

The most you can lose on any stock (assuming you don't use leverage) is 100% of your money. But on a lighter note, a good company can see its share price rise well over 100%. One great example is Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ESPR) which saw its share price drive 190% higher over five years.

Check out our latest analysis for Esperion Therapeutics

With zero revenue generated over twelve months, we don't think that Esperion Therapeutics has proved its business plan yet. As a result, we think it's unlikely shareholders are paying much attention to current revenue, but rather speculating on growth in the years to come. For example, they may be hoping that Esperion Therapeutics comes up with a great new treatment, before it runs out of money.

Companies that lack both meaningful revenue and profits are usually considered high risk. You should be aware that there is always a chance that this sort of company will need to issue more shares to raise money to continue pursuing its business plan. While some companies like this go on to deliver on their plan, making good money for shareholders, many end in painful losses and eventual de-listing. Esperion Therapeutics has already given some investors a taste of the sweet gains that high risk investing can generate, if your timing is right.

Esperion Therapeutics had net cash of just US$72m when it last reported (December 2018). So if it hasn't remedied the situation already, it will almost certainly have to raise more capital soon. Given how low on cash the it got, investors must really like its potential for the share price to be up 24% per year, over 5 years. You can see in the image below, how Esperion Therapeutics's cash and debt levels have changed over time (click to see the values).

In reality it's hard to have much certainty when valuing a business that has neither revenue or profit. One thing you can do is check if company insiders are buying shares. If they are buying a significant amount of shares, that's certainly a good thing. You can click here to see if there are insiders buying.

A Different Perspective

Investors in Esperion Therapeutics had a tough year, with a total loss of 44%, against a market gain of about 8.6%. 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. Longer term investors wouldn't be so upset, since they would have made 24%, each year, over five years. It could be that the recent sell-off is an opportunity, so it may be worth checking the fundamental data for signs of a long term growth trend. If you want to research this stock further, the data on insider buying is an obvious place to start. You can click here to see who has been buying shares - and the price they paid.

There are plenty of other companies that have insiders buying up shares. You probably do not want to miss this freelist of growing companies that insiders are buying.

We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.

If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.