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We're definitely into long term investing, but some companies are simply bad investments over any time frame. We don't wish catastrophic capital loss on anyone. For example, we sympathize with anyone who was caught holding Precigen, Inc. (NASDAQ:PGEN) during the five years that saw its share price drop a whopping 86%. We also note that the stock has performed poorly over the last year, with the share price down 30%. Shareholders have had an even rougher run lately, with the share price down 29% in the last 90 days. We note that the company has reported results fairly recently; and the market is hardly delighted. You can check out the latest numbers in our company report. We really hope anyone holding through that price crash has a diversified portfolio. Even when you lose money, you don't have to lose the lesson.
With the stock having lost 13% in the past week, it's worth taking a look at business performance and seeing if there's any red flags.
Check out our latest analysis for Precigen
Because Precigen 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 desire strong revenue growth. Some companies are willing to postpone profitability to grow revenue faster, but in that case one would hope for good top-line growth to make up for the lack of earnings.
In the last five years Precigen saw its revenue shrink by 52% per year. That puts it in an unattractive cohort, to put it mildly. So it's not altogether surprising to see the share price down 13% per year in the same time period. We don't think this is a particularly promising picture. Ironically, that behavior could create an opportunity for the contrarian investor - but only if there are good reasons to predict a brighter future.
The company's revenue and earnings (over time) are depicted in the image below (click to see the exact numbers).
Take a more thorough look at Precigen's financial health with this free report on its balance sheet.
A Different Perspective
While the broader market gained around 32% in the last year, Precigen shareholders lost 30%. 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. 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. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Precigen better, we need to consider many other factors. Consider for instance, the ever-present spectre of investment risk. We've identified 3 warning signs with Precigen (at least 1 which is potentially serious) , and understanding them should be part of your investment process.