Dynavax Technologies Corporation (NASDAQ:DVAX) shareholders might be concerned after seeing the share price drop 13% in the last month. But that doesn't undermine the fantastic longer term performance (measured over five years). Indeed, the share price is up a whopping 307% in that time. Arguably, the recent fall is to be expected after such a strong rise. Of course what matters most is whether the business can improve itself sustainably, thus justifying a higher price.

Since the long term performance has been good but there's been a recent pullback of 3.7%, let's check if the fundamentals match the share price.

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While markets are a powerful pricing mechanism, share prices reflect investor sentiment, not just underlying business performance. One way to examine how market sentiment has changed over time is to look at the interaction between a company's share price and its earnings per share (EPS).

During the five years of share price growth, Dynavax Technologies moved from a loss to profitability. Sometimes, the start of profitability is a major inflection point that can signal fast earnings growth to come, which in turn justifies very strong share price gains.

The image below shows how EPS has tracked over time (if you click on the image you can see greater detail).

We know that Dynavax Technologies has improved its bottom line lately, but is it going to grow revenue? Check if analysts think Dynavax Technologies will grow revenue in the future.

A Different Perspective

It's nice to see that Dynavax Technologies shareholders have received a total shareholder return of 3.7% over the last year. Having said that, the five-year TSR of 32% a year, is even better. The pessimistic view would be that be that the stock has its best days behind it, but on the other hand the price might simply be moderating while the business itself continues to execute. If you would like to research Dynavax Technologies in more detail then you might want to take a look at whether insiders have been buying or selling shares in the company.

Of course Dynavax Technologies 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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