The most you can lose on any stock (assuming you don't use leverage) is 100% of your money. But if you pick the right business to buy shares in, you can make more than you can lose. For example, the AxoGen, Inc. (NASDAQ:AXGN) share price has soared 105% in the last 1 year. Most would be very happy with that, especially in just one year! It's also good to see the share price up 101% over the last quarter. The company reported its financial results recently; you can catch up on the latest numbers by reading our company report. On the other hand, longer term shareholders have had a tougher run, with the stock falling 25% in three years.

The past week has proven to be lucrative for AxoGen investors, so let's see if fundamentals drove the company's one-year performance.

AxoGen isn't currently profitable, so most analysts would look to revenue growth to get an idea of how fast the underlying business is growing. When a company doesn't make profits, we'd generally hope to see good revenue growth. That's because fast revenue growth can be easily extrapolated to forecast profits, often of considerable size.

In the last year AxoGen saw its revenue grow by 17%. We respect that sort of growth, no doubt. While that revenue growth is pretty good the share price performance outshone it, with a lift of 105% as mentioned above. Given that the business has made good progress on the top line, it would be worth taking a look at its path to profitability. Of course, we are always cautious about succumbing to 'fear of missing out' when a stock has shot up strongly.

The image below shows how earnings and revenue have tracked over time (if you click on the image you can see greater detail).

We like that insiders have been buying shares in the last twelve months. Having said that, most people consider earnings and revenue growth trends to be a more meaningful guide to the business. So it makes a lot of sense to check out what analysts think AxoGen will earn in the future (free profit forecasts).

A Different Perspective

It's good to see that AxoGen has rewarded shareholders with a total shareholder return of 105% in the last twelve months. There's no doubt those recent returns are much better than the TSR loss of 4% per year over five years. This makes us a little wary, but the business might have turned around its fortunes. 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. Case in point: We've spotted 1 warning sign for AxoGen you should be aware of.

AxoGen is not the only stock insiders are buying. So take a peek at this free list of small cap companies at attractive valuations which insiders have been 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.