Long term investing works well, but it doesn’t always work for each individual stock. We don’t wish catastrophic capital loss on anyone. Spare a thought for those who held T1 Energy Inc. (NYSE:TE) for five whole years – as the share price tanked 89%. And we doubt long term believers are the only worried holders, since the stock price has declined 35% over the last twelve months. Shareholders have had an even rougher run lately, with the share price down 58% in the last 90 days. This could be related to the recent financial results – you can catch up on the most recent data by reading our company report. We really hope anyone holding through that price crash has a diversified portfolio. Even when you lose money, you don’t have to lose the lesson.

Since shareholders are down over the longer term, lets look at the underlying fundamentals over the that time and see if they’ve been consistent with returns.

We’ve discovered 3 warning signs about T1 Energy. View them for free.

Given that T1 Energy 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. Generally speaking, companies without profits are expected to grow revenue every year, and at a good clip. 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, T1 Energy grew its revenue at 115% per year. That’s better than most loss-making companies. So on the face of it we’re really surprised to see the share price has averaged a fall of 14% each year, in the same time period. You’d have to assume the market is worried that profits won’t come soon enough. While there might be an opportunity here, you’d want to take a close look at the balance sheet strength.

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. Even so, future earnings will be far more important to whether current shareholders make money. If you are thinking of buying or selling T1 Energy stock, you should check out this free report showing analyst profit forecasts.

While the broader market gained around 7.4% in the last year, T1 Energy shareholders lost 35%. Even the share prices of good stocks drop sometimes, but we want to see improvements in the fundamental metrics of a business, before getting too interested. Unfortunately, longer term shareholders are suffering worse, given the loss of 14% doled out over the last five years. We would want clear information suggesting the company will grow, before taking the view that the share price will stabilize. It’s always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand T1 Energy better, we need to consider many other factors. To that end, you should learn about the 3 warning signs we’ve spotted with T1 Energy (including 1 which is a bit concerning) .