Yahoo Finance Investors in Newpark Resources (NYSE:NR) have made a incredible return of 312% over the past three years
We think that it's fair to say that the possibility of finding fantastic multi-year winners is what motivates many investors. But when you hold the right stock for the right time period, the rewards can be truly huge. One bright shining star stock has been Newpark Resources, Inc. (NYSE:NR), which is 312% higher than three years ago.
Let's take a look at the underlying fundamentals over the longer term, and see if they've been consistent with shareholders returns.
Check out our latest analysis for Newpark Resources
Newpark Resources isn't currently profitable, so most analysts would look to revenue growth to get an idea of how fast the underlying business is growing. When a company doesn't make profits, we'd generally expect to see good revenue growth. That's because fast revenue growth can be easily extrapolated to forecast profits, often of considerable size.
Over the last three years Newpark Resources has grown its revenue at 2.6% annually. Considering the company is losing money, we think that rate of revenue growth is uninspiring. So we're surprised that the share price has soared by 60% each year over that time. We'll tip our hats to that, any day, but the top-line growth isn't particularly impressive when you compare it to other pre-profit companies. The company will need to continue to execute on its business strategy to justify this rise.
The image below shows how earnings and revenue have tracked over time (if you click on the image you can see greater detail).
We consider it positive that insiders have made significant purchases in the last year. Even so, future earnings will be far more important to whether current shareholders make money. This free interactive report on Newpark Resources' earnings, revenue and cash flow is a great place to start, if you want to investigate the stock further.
A Different Perspective
It's nice to see that Newpark Resources shareholders have received a total shareholder return of 0.5% over the last year. There's no doubt those recent returns are much better than the TSR loss of 8% per year over five years. The long term loss makes us cautious, but the short term TSR gain certainly hints at a brighter future. 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. Case in point: We've spotted 2 warning signs for Newpark Resources you should be aware of.
If you like to buy stocks alongside management, then you might just love this free list of companies. (Hint: insiders have been buying them).
Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on American exchanges.
Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.
This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.
Join A Paid User Research Session
You’ll receive a US$30 Amazon Gift card for 1 hour of your time while helping us build better investing tools for the individual investors like yourself. Sign up here