We think all investors should try to buy and hold high quality multi-year winners. While the best companies are hard to find, but they can generate massive returns over long periods. For example, the Surgery Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:SGRY) share price is up a whopping 417% in the last half decade, a handsome return for long term holders. This just goes to show the value creation that some businesses can achieve. Also pleasing for shareholders was the 21% gain in the last three months. The company reported its financial results recently; you can catch up on the latest numbers by reading our company report.

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

Because Surgery Partners 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. Generally speaking, companies without profits are expected to grow revenue every year, and at a good clip. Some companies are willing to postpone profitability to grow revenue faster, but in that case one would hope for good top-line growth to make up for the lack of earnings.

In the last 5 years Surgery Partners saw its revenue grow at 11% per year. That's a pretty good long term growth rate. However, the share price gain of 39% during the period is considerably stronger. We usually like strong growth stocks but it does seem the market already appreciates this one quite well!

You can see below how earnings and revenue have changed over time (discover the exact values by clicking on the image).

Surgery Partners is well known by investors, and plenty of clever analysts have tried to predict the future profit levels. You can see what analysts are predicting for Surgery Partners in this interactive graph of future profit estimates.

A Different Perspective

Surgery Partners shareholders are down 7.3% for the year, but the market itself is up 25%. Even the share prices of good stocks drop sometimes, but we want to see improvements in the fundamental metrics of a business, before getting too interested. Longer term investors wouldn't be so upset, since they would have made 39%, each year, over five years. If the fundamental data continues to indicate long term sustainable growth, the current sell-off could be an opportunity worth considering. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Surgery Partners better, we need to consider many other factors. To that end, you should be aware of the 1 warning sign we've spotted with Surgery Partners .

We will like Surgery Partners better if we see some big insider buys. While we wait, check out this free list of undervalued stocks (mostly small caps) with considerable, recent, insider buying.

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.