The art and science of stock market investing requires a tolerance for losing money on some of the shares you buy. But it should be a priority to avoid stomach churning catastrophes, wherever possible. So spare a thought for the long term shareholders of Vaccitech plc (NASDAQ:VACC); the share price is down a whopping 76% in the last twelve months. While some investors are willing to stomach this sort of loss, they are usually professionals who spread their bets thinly. Because Vaccitech hasn’t been listed for many years, the market is still learning about how the business performs. Furthermore, it’s down 58% in about a quarter. That’s not much fun for holders. This could be related to the recent financial results – you can catch up on the most recent data by reading our company report.
After losing 21% this past week, it’s worth investigating the company’s fundamentals to see what we can infer from past performance.
Check out our latest analysis for Vaccitech
Given that Vaccitech 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. As you can imagine, fast revenue growth, when maintained, often leads to fast profit growth.
In the last year Vaccitech saw its revenue grow by 248%. That’s a strong result which is better than most other loss making companies. So the hefty 76% share price crash makes us think the company has somehow offended market participants. Something weird is definitely impacting the stock price; we’d venture the company has destroyed value somehow. 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 graphic below depicts how earnings and revenue have changed over time (unveil the exact values by clicking on the image).
If you are thinking of buying or selling Vaccitech stock, you should check out this FREE detailed report on its balance sheet.
A Different Perspective
Vaccitech shareholders are down 76% for the year, even worse than the market loss of 9.0%. That’s disappointing, but it’s worth keeping in mind that the market-wide selling wouldn’t have helped. With the stock down 58% 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. Case in point: We’ve spotted 4 warning signs for Vaccitech you should be aware of, and 1 of them is a bit concerning.
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 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.
Read More: Shareholders in Vaccitech (NASDAQ:VACC) have lost 76%, as stock drops 21% this past week