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Did Changing Sentiment Drive Cann Group's (ASX:CAN) Share Price Down By 31%?

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It's easy to match the overall market return by buying an index fund. While individual stocks can be big winners, plenty more fail to generate satisfactory returns. Investors in Cann Group Limited (ASX:CAN) have tasted that bitter downside in the last year, as the share price dropped 31%. That contrasts poorly with the market return of 11%. Cann Group may have better days ahead, of course; we've only looked at a one year period. Furthermore, it's down 10% in about a quarter. That's not much fun for holders.

View our latest analysis for Cann Group

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Cann Group isn't currently profitable, so most analysts would look to revenue growth to get an idea of how fast the underlying business is growing. Generally speaking, companies without profits are expected to grow revenue every year, and at a good clip. 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 twelve months, Cann Group increased its revenue by 2842%. That's well above most other pre-profit companies. Given the revenue growth, the share price drop of 31% seems quite harsh. Our sympathies to shareholders who are now underwater. Prima facie, revenue growth like that should be a good thing, so it's worth checking whether losses have stabilized. Our brains have evolved to think in linear fashion, so there's value in learning to recognize exponential growth. We are, in some ways, simply the wisest of the monkeys.

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

ASX:CAN Income Statement, July 9th 2019
ASX:CAN Income Statement, July 9th 2019

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

Given that the market gained 11% in the last year, Cann Group shareholders might be miffed that they lost 31%. While the aim is to do better than that, it's worth recalling that even great long-term investments sometimes underperform for a year or more. With the stock down 10% over the last three months, the market doesn't seem to believe that the company has solved all its problems. Given the relatively short history of this stock, we'd remain pretty wary until we see some strong business performance. If you would like to research Cann Group 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 Cann Group 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 AU exchanges.

We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.

If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. 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. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.