Tenable Holdings (NASDAQ:TENB) ascends 3.8% this week, taking five-year gains to 88%

The main point of investing for the long term is to make money. Furthermore, you'd generally like to see the share price rise faster than the market. Unfortunately for shareholders, while the Tenable Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:TENB) share price is up 88% in the last five years, that's less than the market return. Unfortunately the share price is down 10% in the last year.

Since it's been a strong week for Tenable Holdings shareholders, let's have a look at trend of the longer term fundamentals.

See our latest analysis for Tenable Holdings

Because Tenable Holdings 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. That's because fast revenue growth can be easily extrapolated to forecast profits, often of considerable size.

In the last 5 years Tenable Holdings saw its revenue grow at 20% per year. That's well above most pre-profit companies. While long-term shareholders have made money, the 13% per year gain over five years fall short of the market return. That's surprising given the strong revenue growth. It could be that the stock was previously over-priced - but if you're looking for underappreciated growth stocks, these numbers indicate that there might be an opportunity here.

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

Tenable Holdings 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

Tenable Holdings shareholders are down 10% for the year, but the market itself is up 35%. Even the share prices of good stocks drop sometimes, but we want to see improvements in the fundamental metrics of a business, before getting too interested. Longer term investors wouldn't be so upset, since they would have made 13%, each year, over five years. If the fundamental data continues to indicate long term sustainable growth, the current sell-off could be an opportunity worth considering. 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. Even so, be aware that Tenable Holdings is showing 2 warning signs in our investment analysis , you should know about...

But note: Tenable Holdings may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies with past earnings growth (and further growth forecast).

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.