Recent 3.1% pullback isn't enough to hurt long-term Sunrun (NASDAQ:RUN) shareholders, they're still up 330% over 5 years

It might be of some concern to shareholders to see the Sunrun Inc. (NASDAQ:RUN) share price down 21% in the last month. But that does not change the realty that the stock's performance has been terrific, over five years. To be precise, the stock price is 330% higher than it was five years ago, a wonderful performance by any measure. Arguably, the recent fall is to be expected after such a strong rise. The most important thing for savvy investors to consider is whether the underlying business can justify the share price gain. Unfortunately not all shareholders will have held it for the long term, so spare a thought for those caught in the 48% decline over the last twelve months.

While the stock has fallen 3.1% this week, it's worth focusing on the longer term and seeing if the stocks historical returns have been driven by the underlying fundamentals.

Check out our latest analysis for Sunrun

Sunrun isn't currently profitable, so most analysts would look to revenue growth to get an idea of how fast the underlying business is growing. When a company doesn't make profits, we'd generally expect to see good revenue growth. As you can imagine, fast revenue growth, when maintained, often leads to fast profit growth.

For the last half decade, Sunrun can boast revenue growth at a rate of 25% per year. That's well above most pre-profit companies. Arguably, this is well and truly reflected in the strong share price gain of 34%(per year) over the same period. Despite the strong run, top performers like Sunrun have been known to go on winning for decades. So we'd recommend you take a closer look at this one, but keep in mind the market seems optimistic.

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

Sunrun is a well known stock, with plenty of analyst coverage, suggesting some visibility into future growth. You can see what analysts are predicting for Sunrun in this interactive graph of future profit estimates.

A Different Perspective

We regret to report that Sunrun shareholders are down 48% for the year. Unfortunately, that's worse than the broader market decline of 10%. 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 34%, each year, over five years. If the fundamental data continues to indicate long term sustainable growth, the current sell-off could be an opportunity worth considering. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Sunrun better, we need to consider many other factors. To that end, you should learn about the 5 warning signs we've spotted with Sunrun (including 1 which is a bit unpleasant) .

We will like Sunrun better if we see some big insider buys. While we wait, check out this free list of growing companies with considerable, recent, insider 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.