Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:IONS) shareholders might be concerned after seeing the share price drop 24% in the last quarter. But don't let that distract from the very nice return generated over three years. After all, the share price is up a market-beating 30% in that time.

So let's investigate and see if the longer term performance of the company has been in line with the underlying business' progress.

View our latest analysis for Ionis Pharmaceuticals

Given that Ionis Pharmaceuticals 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. Shareholders of unprofitable companies usually desire strong revenue growth. That's because fast revenue growth can be easily extrapolated to forecast profits, often of considerable size.

In the last 3 years Ionis Pharmaceuticals saw its revenue shrink by 0.5% per year. Despite the lack of revenue growth, the stock has returned 9%, compound, over three years. Unless the company is going to make profits soon, we would be pretty cautious about it.

You can see how earnings and revenue have changed over time in the image below (click on the chart to see the exact values).

Ionis Pharmaceuticals is a well known stock, with plenty of analyst coverage, suggesting some visibility into future growth. So we recommend checking out this free report showing consensus forecasts

A Different Perspective

While the broader market gained around 39% in the last year, Ionis Pharmaceuticals shareholders lost 16%. Even the share prices of good stocks drop sometimes, but we want to see improvements in the fundamental metrics of a business, before getting too interested. Regrettably, last year's performance caps off a bad run, with the shareholders facing a total loss of 5% 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. 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. For example, we've discovered 2 warning signs for Ionis Pharmaceuticals that you should be aware of before investing here.

Of course Ionis Pharmaceuticals may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see this free collection of growth stocks.

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.