Investors one-year losses grow to 85% as the stock sheds US$29m this past week

It's not a secret that every investor will make bad investments, from time to time. But it's not unreasonable to try to avoid truly shocking capital losses. So spare a thought for the long term shareholders of DermTech, Inc. (NASDAQ:DMTK); the share price is down a whopping 85% in the last twelve months. That'd be enough to make even the strongest stomachs churn. DermTech hasn't been listed for long, so although we're wary of recent listings that perform poorly, it may still prove itself with time. Furthermore, it's down 65% in about a quarter. That's not much fun for holders. We really feel for shareholders in this scenario. It's a good reminder of the importance of diversification, and it's worth keeping in mind there's more to life than money, anyway.

After losing 15% this past week, it's worth investigating the company's fundamentals to see what we can infer from past performance.

View our latest analysis for DermTech

DermTech wasn't profitable in the last twelve months, it is unlikely we'll see a strong correlation between its share price and its earnings per share (EPS). Arguably revenue is our next best option. When a company doesn't make profits, we'd generally expect to see good revenue growth. That's because fast revenue growth can be easily extrapolated to forecast profits, often of considerable size.

DermTech grew its revenue by 90% over the last year. That's well above most other pre-profit companies. So on the face of it we're really surprised to see the share price down 85% over twelve months. There's clearly something unusual going on here such as an acquisition that hasn't delivered expected profits. We'd recommend taking a very close look at the stock (and any available forecasts), before considering a purchase, because the share price is not correlated with the revenue growth, that's for sure. Of course, markets do over-react so share price drop may be too harsh.

The image below shows how earnings and revenue have tracked over time (if you click on the image you can see greater detail).

It's probably worth noting we've seen significant insider buying in the last quarter, which we consider a positive. On the other hand, we think the revenue and earnings trends are much more meaningful measures of the business. So we recommend checking out this free report showing consensus forecasts

A Different Perspective

We doubt DermTech shareholders are happy with the loss of 85% over twelve months. That falls short of the market, which lost 20%. There's no doubt that's a disappointment, but the stock may well have fared better in a stronger market. With the stock down 65% over the last three months, the market doesn't seem to believe that the company has solved all its problems. Basically, most investors should be wary of buying into a poor-performing stock, unless the business itself has clearly improved. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand DermTech better, we need to consider many other factors. Case in point: We've spotted 3 warning signs for DermTech you should be aware of.

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.