As every investor would know, you don't hit a homerun every time you swing. But it's not unreasonable to try to avoid truly shocking capital losses. So we hope that those who held CS Disco, Inc. (NYSE:LAW) during the last year don't lose the lesson, in addition to the 77% hit to the value of their shares. That'd be enough to make even the strongest stomachs churn. Because CS Disco hasn't been listed for many years, the market is still learning about how the business performs. The falls have accelerated recently, with the share price down 45% in the last three months.
Now let's have a look at the company's fundamentals, and see if the long term shareholder return has matched the performance of the underlying business.
View our latest analysis for CS Disco
CS Disco wasn't profitable in the last twelve months, it is unlikely we'll see a strong correlation between its share price and its earnings per share (EPS). Arguably revenue is our next best option. 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.
CS Disco grew its revenue by 50% over the last year. That's well above most other pre-profit companies. So on the face of it we're really surprised to see the share price down 77% over twelve months. Something weird is definitely impacting the stock price; we'd venture the company has destroyed value somehow. What is clear is that the market is not judging the company on its revenue growth right now. Of course, investors do over-react when they are stressed out, so the sell-off could be unjustifiably severe.
The image below shows how earnings and revenue have tracked over time (if you click on the image you can see greater detail).
It's probably worth noting that the CEO is paid less than the median at similar sized companies. But while CEO remuneration is always worth checking, the really important question is whether the company can grow earnings going forward. So it makes a lot of sense to check out what analysts think CS Disco will earn in the future (free profit forecasts).
A Different Perspective
CS Disco shareholders are down 77% for the year, even worse than the market loss of 22%. There's no doubt that's a disappointment, but the stock may well have fared better in a stronger market. The share price decline has continued throughout the most recent three months, down 45%, suggesting an absence of enthusiasm from investors. Basically, most investors should be wary of buying into a poor-performing stock, unless the business itself has clearly improved. 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. Like risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 3 warning signs for CS Disco (of which 1 is significant!) you should know about.