Despite currently being unprofitable, Apartment Investment and Management (NYSE:AIV) has delivered a 48% return to shareholders over 1 year

If you want to compound wealth in the stock market, you can do so by buying an index fund. But investors can boost returns by picking market-beating companies to own shares in. To wit, the Apartment Investment and Management Company (NYSE:AIV) share price is 48% higher than it was a year ago, much better than the market return of around 15% (not including dividends) in the same period. If it can keep that out-performance up over the long term, investors will do very well! Apartment Investment and Management hasn't been listed for long, so it's still not clear if it is a long term winner.

While this past week has detracted from the company's one-year return, let's look at the recent trends of the underlying business and see if the gains have been in alignment.

View our latest analysis for Apartment Investment and Management

Given that Apartment Investment and Management 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. Shareholders of unprofitable companies usually expect strong 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.

Apartment Investment and Management grew its revenue by 8.1% last year. That's not a very high growth rate considering it doesn't make profits. The modest growth is probably largely reflected in the share price, which is up 48%. While not a huge gain tht seems pretty reasonable. It could be worth keeping an eye on this one, especially if growth accelerates.

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

We like that insiders have been buying shares in the last twelve months. Having said that, most people consider earnings and revenue growth trends to be a more meaningful guide to the business. This free interactive report on Apartment Investment and Management's earnings, revenue and cash flow is a great place to start, if you want to investigate the stock further.

A Different Perspective

It's nice to see that Apartment Investment and Management shareholders have gained 48% over the last year. The more recent returns haven't been as impressive as the longer term returns, coming in at just 2.1%. Having said that, we doubt shareholders would be concerned. It seems the market is simply waiting on more information, because if the business delivers so will the share price (eventually). It is all well and good that insiders have been buying shares, but we suggest you check here to see what price insiders were buying at.

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.

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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.