Yahoo Finance Shareholders in Shattuck Labs (NASDAQ:STTK) are in the red if they invested a year ago
Even the best investor on earth makes unsuccessful investments. But it's not unreasonable to try to avoid truly shocking capital losses. So spare a thought for the long term shareholders of Shattuck Labs, Inc. (NASDAQ:STTK); the share price is down a whopping 90% in the last twelve months. A loss like this is a stark reminder that portfolio diversification is important. We wouldn't rush to judgement on Shattuck Labs because we don't have a long term history to look at. The falls have accelerated recently, with the share price down 47% in the last three months. 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.
Now let's have a look at the company's fundamentals, and see if the long term shareholder return has matched the performance of the underlying business.
View our latest analysis for Shattuck Labs
Because Shattuck Labs 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. When a company doesn't make profits, we'd generally expect to see good revenue growth. Some companies are willing to postpone profitability to grow revenue faster, but in that case one does expect good top-line growth.
In the last twelve months, Shattuck Labs increased its revenue by 201%. That's a strong result which is better than most other loss making companies. So on the face of it we're really surprised to see the share price down 90% over twelve months. There's clearly something unusual going on here such as an acquisition that hasn't delivered expected profits. We'd recommend taking a very close look at the stock (and any available forecasts), before considering a purchase, because the share price is not correlated with the revenue growth, that's for sure. Of course, markets do over-react so share price drop may be too harsh.
The company's revenue and earnings (over time) are depicted in the image below (click to see the exact numbers).
It's probably worth noting we've seen significant insider buying in the last quarter, which we consider a positive. On the other hand, we think the revenue and earnings trends are much more meaningful measures of the business. You can see what analysts are predicting for Shattuck Labs in this interactive graph of future profit estimates.
A Different Perspective
Shattuck Labs shareholders are down 90% for the year, even worse than the market loss of 8.9%. That's disappointing, but it's worth keeping in mind that the market-wide selling wouldn't have helped. With the stock down 47% over the last three months, the market doesn't seem to believe that the company has solved all its problems. Given the relatively short history of this stock, we'd remain pretty wary until we see some strong business performance. 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 3 warning signs with Shattuck Labs (at least 1 which is a bit concerning) , and understanding them should be part of your investment process.
Shattuck Labs is not the only stock insiders are buying. So take a peek at this free list of growing companies with insider buying.
Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on US exchanges.
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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.
