Elanco Animal Health (NYSE:ELAN shareholders incur further losses as stock declines 5.1% this week, taking three-year losses to 58%

If you are building a properly diversified stock portfolio, the chances are some of your picks will perform badly. But the long term shareholders of Elanco Animal Health Incorporated (NYSE:ELAN) have had an unfortunate run in the last three years. Sadly for them, the share price is down 58% in that time. Furthermore, it's down 28% in about a quarter. That's not much fun for holders.

With the stock having lost 5.1% in the past week, it's worth taking a look at business performance and seeing if there's any red flags.

See our latest analysis for Elanco Animal Health

Elanco Animal Health 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. Some companies are willing to postpone profitability to grow revenue faster, but in that case one would hope for good top-line growth to make up for the lack of earnings.

Over the last three years, Elanco Animal Health's revenue dropped 0.7% per year. That's not what investors generally want to see. With revenue in decline, and profit but a dream, we can understand why the share price has been declining at 16% per year. Having said that, if growth is coming in the future, now may be the low ebb for the company. We'd be pretty wary of this one until it makes a profit, because we don't specialize in finding turnaround situations.

The graphic below depicts how earnings and revenue have changed over time (unveil the exact values by clicking on the image).

It's probably worth noting we've seen significant insider buying in the last quarter, which we consider a positive. On the other hand, we think the revenue and earnings trends are much more meaningful measures of the business. This free report showing analyst forecasts should help you form a view on Elanco Animal Health

A Different Perspective

Elanco Animal Health shareholders gained a total return of 0.9% during the year. But that return falls short of the market. On the bright side, that's still a gain, and it is certainly better than the yearly loss of about 9% endured over half a decade. So this might be a sign the business has turned its fortunes around. While it is well worth considering the different impacts that market conditions can have on the share price, there are other factors that are even more important. Case in point: We've spotted 1 warning sign for Elanco Animal Health you should be aware of.

If you like to buy stocks alongside management, then you might just love this free list of companies. (Hint: most of them are flying under the radar).

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.