Every investor on earth makes bad calls sometimes. But you want to avoid the really big losses like the plague. So spare a thought for the long term shareholders of HLS Therapeutics Inc. (TSE:HLS); the share price is down a whopping 79% in the last three years. That would be a disturbing experience. Unfortunately the share price momentum is still quite negative, with prices down 21% in thirty days. This could be related to the recent financial results - you can catch up on the most recent data by reading our company report.

Since shareholders are down over the longer term, lets look at the underlying fundamentals over the that time and see if they've been consistent with returns.

See our latest analysis for HLS Therapeutics

Given that HLS Therapeutics 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. Generally speaking, companies without profits are expected to grow revenue every year, and at a good clip. That's because fast revenue growth can be easily extrapolated to forecast profits, often of considerable size.

In the last three years, HLS Therapeutics saw its revenue grow by 2.4% per year, compound. That's not a very high growth rate considering it doesn't make profits. But the share price crash at 21% per year does seem a bit harsh! While we're definitely wary of the stock, after that kind of performance, it could be an over-reaction. Of course, revenue growth is nice but generally speaking the lower the profits, the riskier the business - and this business isn't making steady profits.

You can see how earnings and revenue have changed over time in the image below (click on the chart to see the exact values).

We consider it positive that insiders have made significant purchases in the last year. Having said that, most people consider earnings and revenue growth trends to be a more meaningful guide to the business. If you are thinking of buying or selling HLS Therapeutics stock, you should check out this free report showing analyst profit forecasts.

A Different Perspective

While the broader market gained around 14% in the last year, HLS Therapeutics shareholders lost 12%. However, keep in mind that even the best stocks will sometimes underperform the market over a twelve month period. Unfortunately, longer term shareholders are suffering worse, given the loss of 12% doled out over the last five years. 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 HLS Therapeutics better, we need to consider many other factors. For instance, we've identified 2 warning signs for HLS Therapeutics that you should be aware of.