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NanoString Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:NSTG) shareholders might be concerned after seeing the share price drop 28% in the last quarter. But that doesn't undermine the rather lovely longer-term return, if you measure over the last three years. In fact, the share price is up a full 141% compared to three years ago. So the recent fall in the share price should be viewed in that context. If the business can perform well for years to come, then the recent drop could be an opportunity.
In light of the stock dropping 6.8% in the past week, we want to investigate the longer term story, and see if fundamentals have been the driver of the company's positive three-year return.
Check out our latest analysis for NanoString Technologies
Given that NanoString Technologies 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.
Over the last three years NanoString Technologies has grown its revenue at 6.1% annually. Considering the company is losing money, we think that rate of revenue growth is uninspiring. In comparison, the share price rise of 34% per year over the last three years is pretty impressive. Shareholders should be pretty happy with that, although interested investors might want to examine the financial data more closely to see if the gains are really justified. It seems likely that the market is pretty optimistic about NanoString Technologies, given it is losing money.
The company's revenue and earnings (over time) are depicted in the image below (click to see the exact numbers).
You can see how its balance sheet has strengthened (or weakened) over time in this free interactive graphic.
A Different Perspective
NanoString Technologies shareholders are down 14% for the year, but the market itself is up 23%. 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. On the bright side, long term shareholders have made money, with a gain of 13% per year over half a decade. If the fundamental data continues to indicate long term sustainable growth, the current sell-off could be an opportunity worth considering. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand NanoString Technologies better, we need to consider many other factors. Even so, be aware that NanoString Technologies is showing 4 warning signs in our investment analysis , you should know about...