Unfortunately, investing is risky - companies can and do go bankrupt. But if you pick the right business to buy shares in, you can make more than you can lose. For example, the Groupon, Inc. (NASDAQ:GRPN) share price has soared 137% return in just a single year. On top of that, the share price is up 89% in about a quarter. Unfortunately the longer term returns are not so good, with the stock falling 50% in the last three years.

Since it's been a strong week for Groupon shareholders, let's have a look at trend of the longer term fundamentals.

Groupon 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 expect to see good revenue growth. 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.

In the last year Groupon saw its revenue shrink by 22%. We're a little surprised to see the share price pop 137% in the last year. It just goes to show the market doesn't always pay attention to the reported numbers. It's quite likely the revenue fall was already priced in, anyway.

The graphic below depicts how earnings and revenue have changed over time (unveil the exact values by clicking on the image).

It's probably worth noting that the CEO is paid less than the median at similar sized companies. It's always worth keeping an eye on CEO pay, but a more important question is whether the company will grow earnings throughout the years. This free report showing analyst forecasts should help you form a view on Groupon

A Different Perspective

It's nice to see that Groupon shareholders have received a total shareholder return of 137% over the last year. There's no doubt those recent returns are much better than the TSR loss of 12% per year over five years. The long term loss makes us cautious, but the short term TSR gain certainly hints at a brighter future. 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. Even so, be aware that Groupon is showing 2 warning signs in our investment analysis , you should know about...

If you like to buy stocks alongside management, then you might just love this free list of companies. (Hint: insiders have been buying them).

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.