Some stocks are best avoided. It hits us in the gut when we see fellow investors suffer a loss. Spare a thought for those who held Safestyle UK plc (LON:SFE) for five whole years - as the share price tanked 86%. And some of the more recent buyers are probably worried, too, with the stock falling 23% in the last year. While a drop like that is definitely a body blow, money isn't as important as health and happiness.

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.

See our latest analysis for Safestyle UK

To quote Buffett, 'Ships will sail around the world but the Flat Earth Society will flourish. There will continue to be wide discrepancies between price and value in the marketplace...' By comparing earnings per share (EPS) and share price changes over time, we can get a feel for how investor attitudes to a company have morphed over time.

Safestyle UK became profitable within the last five years. That would generally be considered a positive, so we are surprised to see the share price is down. Other metrics might give us a better handle on how its value is changing over time.

Arguably, the revenue drop of 4.9% a year for half a decade suggests that the company can't grow in the long term. That could explain the weak share price.

You can see below how earnings and revenue have changed over time (discover the exact values by clicking on the image).

We know that Safestyle UK has improved its bottom line over the last three years, but what does the future have in store? If you are thinking of buying or selling Safestyle UK stock, you should check out this FREE detailed report on its balance sheet.

A Different Perspective

While the broader market lost about 6.1% in the twelve months, Safestyle UK shareholders did even worse, losing 23%. However, it could simply be that the share price has been impacted by broader market jitters. It might be worth keeping an eye on the fundamentals, in case there's a good opportunity. However, the loss over the last year isn't as bad as the 13% per annum loss investors have suffered over the last half decade. We'd need to see some sustained improvements in the key metrics before we could muster much enthusiasm. 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 Safestyle UK is showing 1 warning sign in our investment analysis , you should know about...