Statistically speaking, long term investing is a profitable endeavour. But that doesn’t mean long term investors can avoid big losses. Zooming in on an example, the Shenandoah Telecommunications Company (NASDAQ:SHEN) share price dropped 71% in the last half decade. We certainly feel for shareholders who bought near the top. And we doubt long term believers are the only worried holders, since the stock price has declined 40% over the last twelve months.

With that in mind, it’s worth seeing if the company’s underlying fundamentals have been the driver of long term performance, or if there are some discrepancies.

Check out our latest analysis for Shenandoah Telecommunications

Given that Shenandoah Telecommunications 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. 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.

Over five years, Shenandoah Telecommunications grew its revenue at 8.2% per year. That’s a pretty good rate for a long time period. So the stock price fall of 11% per year seems pretty steep. The market can be a harsh master when your company is losing money and revenue growth disappoints.

You can see how earnings and revenue have changed over time in the image below (click on the chart to see the exact values).

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 Shenandoah Telecommunications will earn in the future (free profit forecasts).

When looking at investment returns, it is important to consider the difference between total shareholder return (TSR) and share price return. The TSR is a return calculation that accounts for the value of cash dividends (assuming that any dividend received was reinvested) and the calculated value of any discounted capital raisings and spin-offs. It’s fair to say that the TSR gives a more complete picture for stocks that pay a dividend. In the case of Shenandoah Telecommunications, it has a TSR of -52% for the last 5 years. That exceeds its share price return that we previously mentioned. This is largely a result of its dividend payments!