Every investor on earth makes bad calls sometimes. But you have a problem if you face massive losses more than once in a while. So take a moment to sympathize with the long term shareholders of HelloFresh SE (ETR:HFG), who have seen the share price tank a massive 72% over a three year period. That would be a disturbing experience. The last week also saw the share price slip down another 8.6%.

After losing 8.6% this past week, it's worth investigating the company's fundamentals to see what we can infer from past performance.

View our latest analysis for HelloFresh

HelloFresh 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. As you can imagine, fast revenue growth, when maintained, often leads to fast profit growth.

Over three years, HelloFresh grew revenue at 8.9% per year. That's a fairly respectable growth rate. So it's hard to believe the share price decline of 20% per year is due to the revenue. More likely, the market was spooked by the cost of that revenue. If you buy into companies that lose money then you always risk losing money yourself. Just don't lose the lesson.

You can see below how earnings and revenue have changed over time (discover the exact values by clicking on the image).

HelloFresh is a well known stock, with plenty of analyst coverage, suggesting some visibility into future growth. If you are thinking of buying or selling HelloFresh stock, you should check out this free report showing analyst consensus estimates for future profits.

A Different Perspective

Investors in HelloFresh had a tough year, with a total loss of 11%, against a market gain of about 18%. 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. Unfortunately, longer term shareholders are suffering worse, given the loss of 9% doled out over the last five years. We would want clear information suggesting the company will grow, before taking the view that the share price will stabilize. While it is well worth considering the different impacts that market conditions can have on the share price, there are other factors that are even more important. Case in point: We've spotted 1 warning sign for HelloFresh you should be aware of.

Of course HelloFresh 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 German 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.