HelloFresh SE (ETR:HFG) shareholders will doubtless be very grateful to see the share price up 76% in the last quarter. But that is meagre solace in the face of the shocking decline over three years. In that time the share price has melted like a snowball in the desert, down 90%. So we're relieved for long term holders to see a bit of uplift. But the more important question is whether the underlying business can justify a higher price still. While a drop like that is definitely a body blow, money isn't as important as health and happiness.

The recent uptick of 15% could be a positive sign of things to come, so let's take a look at historical fundamentals.

Check out our latest analysis for HelloFresh

Given that HelloFresh 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. 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 three years, HelloFresh saw its revenue grow by 12% per year, compound. That's a pretty good rate of top-line growth. So it seems unlikely the 24% share price drop (each year) is entirely about the revenue. More likely, the market was spooked by the cost of that revenue. If you buy into companies that lose money then you always risk losing money yourself. Just don't lose the lesson.

The graphic below depicts how earnings and revenue have changed over time (unveil the exact values by clicking on the image).

HelloFresh is well known by investors, and plenty of clever analysts have tried to predict the future profit levels. So we recommend checking out this free report showing consensus forecasts

A Different Perspective

HelloFresh shareholders are down 73% for the year, but the market itself is up 9.0%. However, keep in mind that even the best stocks will sometimes underperform the market over a twelve month period. Regrettably, last year's performance caps off a bad run, with the shareholders facing a total loss of 6% per year over five years. Generally speaking long term share price weakness can be a bad sign, though contrarian investors might want to research the stock in hope of a turnaround. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand HelloFresh better, we need to consider many other factors. Even so, be aware that HelloFresh is showing 1 warning sign in our investment analysis , you should know about...