By buying an index fund, you can roughly match the market return with ease. But many of us dare to dream of bigger returns, and build a portfolio ourselves. Just take a look at 1895 Bancorp of Wisconsin, Inc. (NASDAQ:BCOW), which is up 46%, over three years, soundly beating the market return of 22% (not including dividends).

So let's investigate and see if the longer term performance of the company has been in line with the underlying business' progress.

Check out our latest analysis for 1895 Bancorp of Wisconsin

Given that 1895 Bancorp of Wisconsin 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. Shareholders of unprofitable companies usually expect strong revenue growth. That's because fast revenue growth can be easily extrapolated to forecast profits, often of considerable size.

1895 Bancorp of Wisconsin's revenue trended up 4.6% each year over three years. Considering the company is losing money, we think that rate of revenue growth is uninspiring. The modest growth is probably broadly reflected in the share price, which is up 13%, per year over 3 years. Ultimately, the important thing is whether the company is trending to profitability. Given the market doesn't seem too excited about the stock, a closer look at the financial data could pay off, if you can find indications of a stronger growth trend in the future.

You can see how earnings and revenue have changed over time in the image below (click on the chart to see the exact values).

It's probably worth noting that the CEO is paid less than the median at similar sized companies. It's always worth keeping an eye on CEO pay, but a more important question is whether the company will grow earnings throughout the years. Dive deeper into the earnings by checking this interactive graph of 1895 Bancorp of Wisconsin's earnings, revenue and cash flow.

A Different Perspective

While it's never nice to take a loss, 1895 Bancorp of Wisconsin shareholders can take comfort that their trailing twelve month loss of 10% wasn't as bad as the market loss of around -20%. Shareholders who have held for three years might be relatively sanguine about the recent weakness, given they have made 13% per year for three years. It's possible that the recent share price decline has more to do with the negative broader market returns than any company specific development. 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. Consider risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 2 warning signs for 1895 Bancorp of Wisconsin you should know about.