Investors in Chegg (NYSE:CHGG) have unfortunately lost 75% over the last year

As every investor would know, you don't hit a homerun every time you swing. But it would be foolish to simply accept every extremely large loss as an inevitable part of the game. It must have been painful to be a Chegg, Inc. (NYSE:CHGG) shareholder over the last year, since the stock price plummeted 75% in that time. That'd be a striking reminder about the importance of diversification. To make matters worse, the returns over three years have also been really disappointing (the share price is 49% lower than three years ago). Unfortunately the share price momentum is still quite negative, with prices down 37% in thirty days. This could be related to the recent financial results - you can catch up on the most recent data by reading our company report.

Now let's have a look at the company's fundamentals, and see if the long term shareholder return has matched the performance of the underlying business.

See our latest analysis for Chegg

While markets are a powerful pricing mechanism, share prices reflect investor sentiment, not just underlying business performance. One imperfect but simple way to consider how the market perception of a company has shifted is to compare the change in the earnings per share (EPS) with the share price movement.

Chegg managed to increase earnings per share from a loss to a profit, over the last 12 months.

When a company has just transitioned to profitability, earnings per share growth is not always the best way to look at the share price action. But we may find different metrics more enlightening.

Chegg managed to grow revenue over the last year, which is usually a real positive. Since we can't easily explain the share price movement based on these metrics, it might be worth considering how market sentiment has changed towards the stock.

The graphic below depicts how earnings and revenue have changed over time (unveil 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. So it makes a lot of sense to check out what analysts think Chegg will earn in the future (free profit forecasts).

A Different Perspective

We regret to report that Chegg shareholders are down 75% for the year. Unfortunately, that's worse than the broader market decline of 12%. Having said that, it's inevitable that some stocks will be oversold in a falling market. The key is to keep your eyes on the fundamental developments. Longer term investors wouldn't be so upset, since they would have made 9%, each year, over five years. It could be that the recent sell-off is an opportunity, so it may be worth checking the fundamental data for signs of a long term growth trend. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Chegg better, we need to consider many other factors. To that end, you should learn about the 2 warning signs we've spotted with Chegg (including 1 which is concerning) .

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