Investors in Shattuck Labs (NASDAQ:STTK) have unfortunately lost 86% over the last year

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The art and science of stock market investing requires a tolerance for losing money on some of the shares you buy. But serious investors should think long and hard about avoiding extreme losses. It must have been painful to be a Shattuck Labs, Inc. (NASDAQ:STTK) shareholder over the last year, since the stock price plummeted 86% in that time. While some investors are willing to stomach this sort of loss, they are usually professionals who spread their bets thinly. Because Shattuck Labs hasn't been listed for many years, the market is still learning about how the business performs. The falls have accelerated recently, with the share price down 32% in the last three months. 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.

It's worthwhile assessing if the company's economics have been moving in lockstep with these underwhelming shareholder returns, or if there is some disparity between the two. So let's do just that.

See our latest analysis for Shattuck Labs

Because Shattuck Labs made a loss in the last twelve months, we think the market is probably more focussed on revenue and revenue growth, at least for now. When a company doesn't make profits, we'd generally expect to see good revenue growth. That's because fast revenue growth can be easily extrapolated to forecast profits, often of considerable size.

Shattuck Labs grew its revenue by 1,664% over the last year. That's a strong result which is better than most other loss making companies. So the hefty 86% 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 company's revenue and earnings (over time) are depicted in the image below (click to see the exact numbers).

earnings-and-revenue-growth
earnings-and-revenue-growth

We consider it positive that insiders have made significant purchases in the last year. Even so, future earnings will be far more important to whether current shareholders make money. So we recommend checking out this free report showing consensus forecasts

A Different Perspective

We doubt Shattuck Labs shareholders are happy with the loss of 86% over twelve months. That falls short of the market, which lost 25%. That's disappointing, but it's worth keeping in mind that the market-wide selling wouldn't have helped. The share price decline has continued throughout the most recent three months, down 32%, suggesting an absence of enthusiasm from investors. Basically, most investors should be wary of buying into a poor-performing stock, unless the business itself has clearly improved. 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. Take risks, for example - Shattuck Labs has 3 warning signs (and 1 which makes us a bit uncomfortable) we think you should know about.

There are plenty of other companies that have insiders buying up shares. You probably do not want to miss this free list of growing companies that insiders are buying.

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.

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