The Astron (ASX:ATR) Share Price Is Up 223% And Shareholders Are Boasting About It

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 Astron Corporation Limited (ASX:ATR) share price has soared 223% in the last year. Most would be very happy with that, especially in just one year! It's also good to see the share price up 126% over the last quarter. And shareholders have also done well over the long term, with an increase of 146% in the last three years.

See our latest analysis for Astron

Because Astron 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.

Astron grew its revenue by 43% last year. That's a fairly respectable growth rate. While that revenue growth is pretty good the share price performance outshone it, with a lift of 223% as mentioned above. If the profitability is on the horizon then now could be a very exciting time to be a shareholder. But investors need to be wary of how the 'fear of missing out' could influence them to buy without doing thorough research.

You can see how earnings and revenue have changed over time in the image below (click on the chart to see the exact values).

earnings-and-revenue-growth

Balance sheet strength is crucial. It might be well worthwhile taking a look at our free report on how its financial position has changed over time.

A Different Perspective

We're pleased to report that Astron shareholders have received a total shareholder return of 223% over one year. Since the one-year TSR is better than the five-year TSR (the latter coming in at 23% 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. 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. Consider for instance, the ever-present spectre of investment risk. We've identified 4 warning signs with Astron (at least 2 which are potentially serious) , and understanding them should be part of your investment process.

For those who like to find winning investments this free list of growing companies with recent insider purchasing, could be just the ticket.

Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on AU exchanges.

This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. 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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