GameStop's (NYSE:GME) Shareholders Are Down 82% On Their Shares

NYSE:GME) up an impressive 84%. But spare a thought for the long term holders, who have held the stock as it bled value over the last five years. Indeed, the share price is down a whopping 82% in that time. It’s true that the recent bounce could signal the company is turning over a new leaf, but we are not so sure. The million dollar question is whether the company can justify a long term recovery.” data-reactid=”28″>This month, we saw the GameStop Corp. (NYSE:GME) up an impressive 84%. But spare a thought for the long term holders, who have held the stock as it bled value over the last five years. Indeed, the share price is down a whopping 82% in that time. It’s true that the recent bounce could signal the company is turning over a new leaf, but we are not so sure. The million dollar question is whether the company can justify a long term recovery.

We really feel for shareholders in this scenario. It’s a good reminder of the importance of diversification, and it’s worth keeping in mind there’s more to life than money, anyway.

See our latest analysis for GameStop ” data-reactid=”30″> See our latest analysis for GameStop

GameStop isn’t currently profitable, so most analysts would look to revenue growth to get an idea of how fast the underlying business is growing. Generally speaking, companies without profits are expected to grow revenue every year, and at a good clip. That’s because it’s hard to be confident a company will be sustainable if revenue growth is negligible, and it never makes a profit.

Over half a decade GameStop reduced its trailing twelve month revenue by 6.4% for each year. While far from catastrophic that is not good. The share price fall of 13% (per year, over five years) is a stern reminder that money-losing companies are expected to grow revenue. It takes a certain kind of mental fortitude (or recklessness) to buy shares in a company that loses money and doesn’t grow revenue. That is not really what the successful investors we know aim for.

The image below shows how earnings and revenue have tracked over time (if you click on the image you can see greater detail).

More

earn in the future (free profit forecasts).” data-reactid=”50″>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. So it makes a lot of sense to check out what analysts think GameStop will earn in the future (free profit forecasts).

What about the Total Shareholder Return (TSR)?

A Different Perspective

2 warning signs for GameStop that you should be aware of.” data-reactid=”54″>It’s nice to see that GameStop shareholders have received a total shareholder return of 61% over the last year. That certainly beats the loss of about 12% per year over the last half decade. This makes us a little wary, but the business might have turned around its fortunes. It’s always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand GameStop better, we need to consider many other factors. For instance, we’ve identified 2 warning signs for GameStop that you should be aware of.

list of growing companies with recent insider purchasing, could be just the ticket.” data-reactid=”55″>GameStop is not the only stock that insiders are buying. For those who like to find winning investments this free list of growing companies with recent insider purchasing, could be just the ticket.