The worst result, after buying shares in a company (assuming no leverage), would be if you lose all the money you put in. But in contrast you can make much more than 100% if the company does well. For instance the Madrigal Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:MDGL) share price is 267% higher than it was three years ago. That sort of return is as solid as granite. In more good news, the share price has risen 62% in thirty days. This could be related to the recent financial results that were recently released - you could check the most recent data by reading our company report.

On the back of a solid 7-day performance, let's check what role the company's fundamentals have played in driving long term shareholder returns.

Given that Madrigal Pharmaceuticals didn't make a profit in the last twelve months, we'll focus on revenue growth to form a quick view of its business development. When a company doesn't make profits, we'd generally hope to see good revenue growth. As you can imagine, fast revenue growth, when maintained, often leads to fast profit growth.

In the last 3 years Madrigal Pharmaceuticals saw its revenue grow at 167% per year. That's much better than most loss-making companies. Meanwhile, the share price performance has been pretty solid at 54% compound over three years. This suggests the market has recognized the progress the business has made, at least to a significant degree. Nonetheless, we'd say Madrigal Pharmaceuticals is still worth investigating - successful businesses can often keep growing for long periods.

The company's revenue and earnings (over time) are depicted in the image below (click to see the exact numbers).

Madrigal Pharmaceuticals is a well known stock, with plenty of analyst coverage, suggesting some visibility into future growth. You can see what analysts are predicting for Madrigal Pharmaceuticals in this interactive graph of future profit estimates.

A Different Perspective

It's good to see that Madrigal Pharmaceuticals has rewarded shareholders with a total shareholder return of 122% in the last twelve months. That's better than the annualised return of 26% over half a decade, implying that the company is doing better recently. Someone with an optimistic perspective could view the recent improvement in TSR as indicating that the business itself is getting better with time. While it is well worth considering the different impacts that market conditions can have on the share price, there are other factors that are even more important. For example, we've discovered 3 warning signs for Madrigal Pharmaceuticals that you should be aware of before investing here.

For those who like to find winning investments this free list of undervalued 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 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.