Introducing FireEye (NASDAQ:FEYE), A Stock That Climbed 61% In The Last Five Years

If you buy and hold a stock for many years, you'd hope to be making a profit. But more than that, you probably want to see it rise more than the market average. But FireEye, Inc. (NASDAQ:FEYE) has fallen short of that second goal, with a share price rise of 61% over five years, which is below the market return. Some buyers are laughing, though, with an increase of 41% in the last year.

View our latest analysis for FireEye

Because FireEye made a loss in the last twelve months, we think the market is probably more focussed on revenue and revenue growth, at least for now. Generally speaking, companies without profits are expected to grow revenue every year, and at a good clip. Some companies are willing to postpone profitability to grow revenue faster, but in that case one does expect good top-line growth.

In the last 5 years FireEye saw its revenue grow at 7.9% per year. That's a fairly respectable growth rate. While the share price has gained 10% per year for five years, that's hardly amazing considering the market also rose. Arguably, that means, the market (previously) expected stronger growth from the company.

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

FireEye is a well known stock, with plenty of analyst coverage, suggesting some visibility into future growth. So we recommend checking out this free report showing consensus forecasts

A Different Perspective

It's nice to see that FireEye shareholders have received a total shareholder return of 41% over the last year. That gain is better than the annual TSR over five years, which is 10%. Therefore it seems like sentiment around the company has been positive lately. Someone with an optimistic perspective could view the recent improvement in TSR as indicating that the business itself is getting better with time. I find it very interesting to look at share price over the long term as a proxy for business performance. But to truly gain insight, we need to consider other information, too. Consider for instance, the ever-present spectre of investment risk. We've identified 3 warning signs with FireEye , and understanding them should be part of your investment process.

For those who like to find winning investments this free list of growing companies with recent insider purchasing, could be just the ticket.

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. 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.
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