While Astron Corporation Limited (ASX:ATR) shareholders are probably generally happy, the stock hasn’t had particularly good run recently, with the share price falling 22% in the last quarter. But that scarcely detracts from the really solid long term returns generated by the company over five years. In fact, the share price is 216% higher today. We think it’s more important to dwell on the long term returns than the short term returns. The more important question is whether the stock is too cheap or too expensive today.

Let’s take a look at the underlying fundamentals over the longer term, and see if they’ve been consistent with shareholders returns.

Check out our latest analysis for Astron

Given that Astron 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. Shareholders of unprofitable companies usually desire strong 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, Astron can boast revenue growth at a rate of 9.5% per year. That’s a fairly respectable growth rate. Broadly speaking, this solid progress may well be reflected by the healthy share price gain of 26% per year over five years. Given that the business has made good progress on the top line, it would be worth taking a look at the growth trend. Accelerating growth can be a sign of an inflection point – and could indicate profits lie ahead. Worth watching 100%

The graphic below depicts how earnings and revenue have changed over time (unveil the exact values by clicking on the image).

If you are thinking of buying or selling Astron stock, you should check out this FREE detailed report on its balance sheet.

While the broader market gained around 14% in the last year, Astron shareholders lost 13%. However, keep in mind that even the best stocks will sometimes underperform the market over a twelve month period. On the bright side, long term shareholders have made money, with a gain of 26% per year over half a decade. If the fundamental data continues to indicate long term sustainable growth, the current sell-off could be an opportunity worth considering. 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. To that end, you should learn about the 4 warning signs we’ve spotted with Astron (including 1 which is a bit unpleasant) .