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The nature of investing is that you win some, and you lose some. And there’s no doubt that Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTGX) stock has had a really bad year. The share price is down a hefty 59% in that time. Because Protagonist Therapeutics hasn’t been listed for many years, the market is still learning about how the business performs. Unfortunately the share price momentum is still quite negative, with prices down 9.2% in thirty days.
Check out our latest analysis for Protagonist Therapeutics
Protagonist Therapeutics isn’t yet profitable, so most analysts would look to revenue growth to get an idea of how fast the underlying business is growing. Shareholders of unprofitable companies usually expect strong revenue growth. Some companies are willing to postpone profitability to grow revenue faster, but in that case one does expect good top-line growth.
Protagonist Therapeutics grew its revenue by 354% over the last year. That’s a strong result which is better than most other loss making companies. In contrast the share price is down 59% over twelve months. Yes, the market can be a fickle mistress. This could mean hype has come out of the stock because the bottom line is concerning investors. We’d definitely consider it a positive if the company is trending towards profitability. If you can see that happening, then perhaps consider adding this stock to your watchlist.
The graphic below shows how revenue and earnings have changed as management guided the business forward. If you want to see cashflow, you can click on the chart.
This free interactive report on Protagonist Therapeutics’s balance sheet strength is a great place to start, if you want to investigate the stock further.
A Different Perspective
Given that the market gained 4.2% in the last year, Protagonist Therapeutics shareholders might be miffed that they lost 59%. While the aim is to do better than that, it’s worth recalling that even great long-term investments sometimes underperform for a year or more. It’s great to see a nice little 4.5% rebound in the last three months. Let’s just hope this isn’t the widely-feared ‘dead cat bounce’ (which would indicate further declines to come). Before spending more time on Protagonist Therapeutics it might be wise to click here to see if insiders have been buying or selling shares.
We will like Protagonist Therapeutics better if we see some big insider buys. While we wait, check out this free list of growing companies with considerable, recent, insider buying.
Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on US exchanges.
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.