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The most you can lose on any stock (assuming you don't use leverage) is 100% of your money. But when you pick a company that is really flourishing, you can make more than 100%. Take, for example Voltabox AG (FRA:VBX). Its share price is already up an impressive 120% in the last twelve months. Shareholders are also celebrating an even better 150% rise, over the last three months. Also impressive, the stock is up 91% over three years, making long term shareholders happy, too.
After a strong gain in the past week, it's worth seeing if longer term returns have been driven by improving fundamentals.
Check out our latest analysis for Voltabox
Voltabox 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. Generally speaking, companies without profits are expected to grow revenue every year, and at a good clip. 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.
Voltabox actually shrunk its revenue over the last year, with a reduction of 27%. So we would not have expected the share price to rise 120%. This is a good example of how buyers can push up prices even before the fundamental metrics show much growth. It's quite likely the revenue fall was already priced in, anyway.
The image below shows how earnings and revenue have tracked over time (if you click on the image you can see greater detail).
You can see how its balance sheet has strengthened (or weakened) over time in this free interactive graphic.
A Different Perspective
It's nice to see that Voltabox shareholders have received a total shareholder return of 120% over the last year. Notably the five-year annualised TSR loss of 10% per year compares very unfavourably with the recent share price performance. We generally put more weight on the long term performance over the short term, but the recent improvement could hint at a (positive) inflection point within the business. 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. Consider for instance, the ever-present spectre of investment risk. We've identified 4 warning signs with Voltabox (at least 3 which are a bit concerning) , and understanding them should be part of your investment process.
If you like to buy stocks alongside management, then you might just love this free list of companies. (Hint: many of them are unnoticed AND have attractive valuation).