Further weakness as NextNav (NASDAQ:NN) drops 14% this week, taking one-year losses to 50%
Passive investing in an index fund is a good way to ensure your own returns roughly match the overall market. When you buy individual stocks, you can make higher profits, but you also face the risk of under-performance. For example, the NextNav Inc. (NASDAQ:NN) share price is down 50% in the last year. That falls noticeably short of the market decline of around 9.0%. We wouldn't rush to judgement on NextNav because we don't have a long term history to look at. Shareholders have had an even rougher run lately, with the share price down 35% in the last 90 days. We note that the company has reported results fairly recently; and the market is hardly delighted. You can check out the latest numbers in our company report.
Since NextNav has shed US$81m from its value in the past 7 days, let's see if the longer term decline has been driven by the business' economics.
Check out our latest analysis for NextNav
Because NextNav made a loss in the last twelve months, we think the market is probably more focussed on revenue and revenue growth, at least for now. Generally speaking, companies without profits are expected to grow revenue every year, and at a good clip. That's because it's hard to be confident a company will be sustainable if revenue growth is negligible, and it never makes a profit.
NextNav grew its revenue by 155% over the last year. That's a strong result which is better than most other loss making companies. Given the revenue growth, the share price drop of 50% seems quite harsh. Our sympathies to shareholders who are now underwater. On the bright side, if this company is moving profits in the right direction, top-line growth like that could be an opportunity. Our brains have evolved to think in linear fashion, so there's value in learning to recognize exponential growth. We are, in some ways, simply the wisest of the monkeys.
The company's revenue and earnings (over time) are depicted in the image below (click to see the exact numbers).
You can see how its balance sheet has strengthened (or weakened) over time in this free interactive graphic.
A Different Perspective
We doubt NextNav shareholders are happy with the loss of 50% over twelve months. That falls short of the market, which lost 9.0%. That's disappointing, but it's worth keeping in mind that the market-wide selling wouldn't have helped. With the stock down 35% 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 NextNav better, we need to consider many other factors. Case in point: We've spotted 3 warning signs for NextNav you should be aware of.
But note: NextNav may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies with past earnings growth (and further growth forecast).
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.
