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It’s not possible to invest over long periods without making some bad investments. But really big losses can really drag down an overall portfolio. So consider, for a moment, the misfortune of Proteostasis Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTI) investors who have held the stock for three years as it declined a whopping 92%. That’d be enough to cause even the strongest minds some disquiet. The more recent news is of little comfort, with the share price down 65% in a year. The falls have accelerated recently, with the share price down 23% in the last three months.
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.
See our latest analysis for Proteostasis Therapeutics
Given that Proteostasis Therapeutics didn’t make a profit in the last twelve months, we’ll focus on revenue growth to form a quick view of its business development. When a company doesn’t make profits, we’d generally expect to see good revenue growth. That’s because fast revenue growth can be easily extrapolated to forecast profits, often of considerable size.
Over the last three years, Proteostasis Therapeutics’s revenue dropped 7.7% per year. That is not a good result. The share price fall of 56% (per year, over three years) is a stern reminder that money-losing companies are expected to grow revenue. This business clearly needs to grow revenues if it is to perform as investors hope. There’s no more than a snowball’s chance in hell that share price will head back to its old highs, in the short term.
We consider it positive that insiders have made significant purchases in the last year. Even so, future earnings will be far more important to whether current shareholders make money. You can see what analysts are predicting for Proteostasis Therapeutics in this interactive graph of future profit estimates.
A Different Perspective
Proteostasis Therapeutics shareholders are down 65% for the year, but the broader market is up 8.7%. Of course the long term matters more than the short term, and even great stocks will sometimes have a poor year. Shareholders have lost 56% per year over the last three years, so the share price drop has become steeper, over the last year; a potential symptom of as yet unsolved challenges. Although Warren Buffett famously said he likes to ‘buy when there is blood on the streets’, he also focusses on high quality stocks with solid prospects. 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.
If you like to buy stocks alongside management, then you might just love this free list of companies. (Hint: insiders have been buying them).
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.