The truth is that if you invest for long enough, you're going to end up with some losing stocks. Long term Surgery Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ:SGRY) shareholders know that all too well, since the share price is down considerably over three years. So they might be feeling emotional about the 53% share price collapse, in that time. And the ride hasn't got any smoother in recent times over the last year, with the price 34% lower in that time. Furthermore, it's down 31% in about a quarter. That's not much fun for holders.

Now let's have a look at the company's fundamentals, and see if the long term shareholder return has matched the performance of the underlying business.

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. Shareholders of unprofitable companies usually desire strong 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.

Over three years, Surgery Partners grew revenue at 10% per year. That's a fairly respectable growth rate. So some shareholders would be frustrated with the compound loss of 15% per year. To be frank we're surprised to see revenue growth and share price growth diverge so strongly. So this is one stock that might be worth investigating further, or even adding to your watchlist.

The graphic below depicts how earnings and revenue have changed over time (unveil 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. Given we have quite a good number of analyst forecasts, it might be well worth checking out this free chart depicting consensus estimates.

A Different Perspective

While the broader market gained around 29% in the last year, Surgery Partners shareholders lost 34%. However, keep in mind that even the best stocks will sometimes underperform the market over a twelve month period. Longer term investors wouldn't be so upset, since they would have made 7%, 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. If you would like to research Surgery Partners in more detail then you might want to take a look at whether insiders have been buying or selling shares in the company.

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.