Those who invested in Calumet Specialty Products Partners (NASDAQ:CLMT) five years ago are up 291%

The most you can lose on any stock (assuming you don't use leverage) is 100% of your money. But on the bright side, you can make far more than 100% on a really good stock. Long term Calumet Specialty Products Partners, L.P. (NASDAQ:CLMT) shareholders would be well aware of this, since the stock is up 291% in five years. It's also good to see the share price up 11% over the last quarter.

Let's take a look at the underlying fundamentals over the longer term, and see if they've been consistent with shareholders returns.

See our latest analysis for Calumet Specialty Products Partners

Calumet Specialty Products Partners 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 hope to see good revenue growth. That's because fast revenue growth can be easily extrapolated to forecast profits, often of considerable size.

For the last half decade, Calumet Specialty Products Partners can boast revenue growth at a rate of 8.4% per year. That's a fairly respectable growth rate. We'd argue this growth has been reflected in the share price which has climbed at a rate of 31% per year over in that time. Given that the business has made good progress on the top line, it would be worth taking a look at the growth trend. When a growth trend accelerates, be it in revenue or earnings, it can indicate an inflection point for the business, which is can often be an opportunity for investors.

The company's revenue and earnings (over time) are depicted in the image below (click to see the exact numbers).

earnings-and-revenue-growth

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. If you are thinking of buying or selling Calumet Specialty Products Partners stock, you should check out this free report showing analyst profit forecasts.

A Different Perspective

Calumet Specialty Products Partners provided a TSR of 5.8% over the last twelve months. Unfortunately this falls short of the market return. It's probably a good sign that the company has an even better long term track record, having provided shareholders with an annual TSR of 31% over five years. It may well be that this is a business worth popping on the watching, given the continuing positive reception, over time, from the market. 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. Even so, be aware that Calumet Specialty Products Partners is showing 3 warning signs in our investment analysis , you should know about...

If you like to buy stocks alongside management, then you might just love this free list of companies. (Hint: most of them are flying under the radar).

Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on American 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.