Even after rising 22% this past week, Digimarc (NASDAQ:DMRC) shareholders are still down 32% over the past five years

It's nice to see the Digimarc Corporation (NASDAQ:DMRC) share price up 22% in a week. But that doesn't change the fact that the returns over the last five years have been less than pleasing. In fact, the share price is down 32%, which falls well short of the return you could get by buying an index fund.

Although the past week has been more reassuring for shareholders, they're still in the red over the last five years, so let's see if the underlying business has been responsible for the decline.

See our latest analysis for Digimarc

Digimarc 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 hope to see good revenue growth. 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.

In the last half decade, Digimarc saw its revenue increase by 10% per year. That's a fairly respectable growth rate. Shareholders have seen the share price fall at 6% per year, for five years: a poor performance. Clearly, the expectations from back then have not been satisfied. There is always a big risk of losing money yourself when you buy shares in a company that loses money.

The company's revenue and earnings (over time) are depicted in the image below (click to see the exact numbers).

earnings-and-revenue-growth

Take a more thorough look at Digimarc's financial health with this free report on its balance sheet.

A Different Perspective

Digimarc shareholders gained a total return of 8.3% during the year. Unfortunately this falls short of the market return. But at least that's still a gain! Over five years the TSR has been a reduction of 6% per year, over five years. So this might be a sign the business has turned its fortunes around. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Digimarc better, we need to consider many other factors. Consider for instance, the ever-present spectre of investment risk. We've identified 3 warning signs with Digimarc , and understanding them should be part of your investment process.

If you are like me, then you will not want to miss this free list of undervalued small caps 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 American 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.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team@simplywallst.com