Tucows (NASDAQ:TCX investor three-year losses grow to 64% as the stock sheds US$51m this past week

If you love investing in stocks you're bound to buy some losers. Long term Tucows Inc. (NASDAQ:TCX) shareholders know that all too well, since the share price is down considerably over three years. Regrettably, they have had to cope with a 64% drop in the share price over that period. And over the last year the share price fell 47%, so we doubt many shareholders are delighted. The last week also saw the share price slip down another 17%. Importantly, this could be a market reaction to the recently released financial results. You can check out the latest numbers in our company report.

With the stock having lost 17% in the past week, it's worth taking a look at business performance and seeing if there's any red flags.

View our latest analysis for Tucows

Given that Tucows 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. As you can imagine, fast revenue growth, when maintained, often leads to fast profit growth.

In the last three years, Tucows saw its revenue grow by 0.5% per year, compound. That's not a very high growth rate considering it doesn't make profits. It's likely this weak growth has contributed to an annualised return of 18% for the last three years. It can be well worth keeping an eye on growth stocks that disappoint the market, because sometimes they re-accelerate. After all, growing a business isn't easy, and the process will not always be smooth.

The company's revenue and earnings (over time) are depicted in the image below (click to see the exact numbers).

We consider it positive that insiders have made significant purchases in the last year. Having said that, most people consider earnings and revenue growth trends to be a more meaningful guide to the business. So we recommend checking out this free report showing consensus forecasts

A Different Perspective

Tucows shareholders are down 47% for the year, but the market itself is up 8.2%. However, keep in mind that even the best stocks will sometimes underperform the market over a twelve month period. Regrettably, last year's performance caps off a bad run, with the shareholders facing a total loss of 9% per year over five years. Generally speaking long term share price weakness can be a bad sign, though contrarian investors might want to research the stock in hope of a turnaround. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Tucows better, we need to consider many other factors. Even so, be aware that Tucows is showing 3 warning signs in our investment analysis , and 2 of those shouldn't be ignored...

Tucows is not the only stock insiders are buying. So take a peek at this free list of growing companies with insider buying.

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.