Buying shares in the best businesses can build meaningful wealth for you and your family. And highest quality companies can see their share prices grow by huge amounts. Don't believe it? Then look at the Agilysys, Inc. (NASDAQ:AGYS) share price. It's 321% higher than it was five years ago. And this is just one example of the epic gains achieved by some long term investors. It's also good to see the share price up 43% over the last quarter.

Check out our latest analysis for Agilysys

Because Agilysys 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. Shareholders of unprofitable companies usually expect strong revenue growth. 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 Agilysys saw its revenue grow at 6.0% per year. That's not a very high growth rate considering the bottom line. Therefore, we're a little surprised to see the share price gain has been so strong, at 33% per year, compound, over the period. We'll tip our hats to that, any day, but the top-line growth isn't particularly impressive when you compare it to other pre-profit companies. It's not immediately obvious to us why the market has been so enthusiastic about the stock, but a more detailed look at revenue and profit trends might reveal why shareholders are optimistic.

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. If you are thinking of buying or selling Agilysys stock, you should check out this free report showing analyst profit forecasts.

A Different Perspective

It's good to see that Agilysys has rewarded shareholders with a total shareholder return of 52% in the last twelve months. That's better than the annualised return of 33% over half a decade, implying that the company is doing better recently. In the best case scenario, this may hint at some real business momentum, implying that now could be a great time to delve deeper. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Agilysys better, we need to consider many other factors. For example, we've discovered 1 warning sign for Agilysys that you should be aware of before investing here.

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.

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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