The worst result, after buying shares in a company (assuming no leverage), would be if you lose all the money you put in. But on a lighter note, a good company can see its share price rise well over 100%. One great example is BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:BCRX) which saw its share price drive 194% higher over five years. On top of that, the share price is up 12% in about a quarter.

Since the stock has added US$128m to its market cap in the past week alone, let's see if underlying performance has been driving long-term returns.

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals 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. 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.

For the last half decade, BioCryst Pharmaceuticals can boast revenue growth at a rate of 46% per year. That's well above most pre-profit companies. So it's not entirely surprising that the share price reflected this performance by increasing at a rate of 24% per year, in that time. So it seems likely that buyers have paid attention to the strong revenue growth. To our minds that makes BioCryst Pharmaceuticals worth investigating - it may have its best days ahead.

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. Even so, future earnings will be far more important to whether current shareholders make money. You can see what analysts are predicting for BioCryst Pharmaceuticals in this interactive graph of future profit estimates.

A Different Perspective

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals provided a TSR of 9.4% over the last twelve months. But that was short of the market average. If we look back over five years, the returns are even better, coming in at 24% per year for five years. It's quite possible the business continues to execute with prowess, even as the share price gains are slowing. 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. To that end, you should be aware of the 1 warning sign we've spotted with BioCryst Pharmaceuticals .

There are plenty of other companies that have insiders buying up shares. You probably do not want to miss this free list of undervalued small cap companies that insiders are 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.