Some Exact Sciences Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAS) shareholders are probably rather concerned to see the share price fall 33% over the last three months. On the other hand, over the last twelve months the stock has delivered rather impressive returns. During that period, the share price soared a full 104%. So it is important to view the recent reduction in price through that lense. More important, going forward, is how the business itself is going.

In light of the stock dropping 4.3% in the past week, we want to investigate the longer term story, and see if fundamentals have been the driver of the company's positive one-year return.

Check out our latest analysis for Exact Sciences

Because Exact Sciences 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 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 Exact Sciences saw its revenue grow by 19%. We respect that sort of growth, no doubt. The revenue growth is decent but the share price had an even better year, gaining 104%. Given that the business has made good progress on the top line, it would be worth taking a look at its path to profitability. Of course, we are always cautious about succumbing to 'fear of missing out' when a stock has shot up strongly.

The image below shows how earnings and revenue have tracked over time (if you click on the image you can see greater detail).

Exact Sciences is well known by investors, and plenty of clever analysts have tried to predict the future profit levels. So it makes a lot of sense to check out what analysts think Exact Sciences will earn in the future (free analyst consensus estimates)

A Different Perspective

It's good to see that Exact Sciences has rewarded shareholders with a total shareholder return of 104% in the last twelve months. Since the one-year TSR is better than the five-year TSR (the latter coming in at 0.8% per year), it would seem that the stock's performance has improved in recent times. Someone with an optimistic perspective could view the recent improvement in TSR as indicating that the business itself is getting better with time. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Exact Sciences better, we need to consider many other factors. Even so, be aware that Exact Sciences is showing 1 warning sign in our investment analysis , you should know about...

If you would prefer to check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss this free list of companies that have proven they can grow earnings.

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.