In order to justify the effort of selecting individual stocks, it’s worth striving to beat the returns from a market index fund. But in any portfolio, there are likely to be some stocks that fall short of that benchmark. Unfortunately, that’s been the case for longer term Sylogist Ltd. (TSE:SYZ) shareholders, since the share price is down 30% in the last three years, falling well short of the market return of around 23%. Shareholders have had an even rougher run lately, with the share price down 19% in the last 90 days.

It’s worthwhile assessing if the company’s economics have been moving in lockstep with these underwhelming shareholder returns, or if there is some disparity between the two. So let’s do just that.

Check out our latest analysis for Sylogist

Because Sylogist made a loss in the last twelve months, we think the market is probably more focussed on revenue and revenue growth, at least for now. Generally speaking, companies without profits are expected to grow revenue every year, and at a good clip. That’s because it’s hard to be confident a company will be sustainable if revenue growth is negligible, and it never makes a profit.

Over three years, Sylogist grew revenue at 17% per year. That’s a pretty good rate of top-line growth. Shareholders have seen the share price fall at 9% per year, for three years. This implies the market had higher expectations of Sylogist. With revenue growing at a solid clip, now might be the time to focus on the possibility that it will have a brighter future.

You can see below how earnings and revenue have changed over time (discover the exact values by clicking on the image).

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. If you are thinking of buying or selling Sylogist stock, you should check out this free report showing analyst profit forecasts.

When looking at investment returns, it is important to consider the difference between total shareholder return (TSR) and share price return. Whereas the share price return only reflects the change in the share price, the TSR includes the value of dividends (assuming they were reinvested) and the benefit of any discounted capital raising or spin-off. Arguably, the TSR gives a more comprehensive picture of the return generated by a stock. As it happens, Sylogist’s TSR for the last 3 years was -25%, which exceeds the share price return mentioned earlier. The dividends paid by the company have thusly boosted the total shareholder return.