Freelancer Limited (ASX:FLN) shareholders should be happy to see the share price up 15% in the last month. But that's not enough to compensate for the decline over the last twelve months. During that time the share price has sank like a stone, descending 64%. Some might say the recent bounce is to be expected after such a bad drop. Of course, it could be that the fall was overdone.

Since shareholders are down over the longer term, lets look at the underlying fundamentals over the that time and see if they've been consistent with returns.

View our latest analysis for Freelancer

Given that Freelancer didn't make a profit in the last twelve months, we'll focus on revenue growth to form a quick view of its business development. 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.

In the last twelve months, Freelancer increased its revenue by 3.1%. That's not a very high growth rate considering it doesn't make profits. Without profits, and with revenue growth sluggish, you get a 64% loss for shareholders, over the year. We'd want to see evidence that future revenue growth will be stronger before getting too interested. Of course, the market can be too impatient at times. Why not take a closer look at this one so you're ready to pounce if growth does accelerate.

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

This free interactive report on Freelancer's balance sheet strength is a great place to start, if you want to investigate the stock further.

A Different Perspective

We regret to report that Freelancer shareholders are down 64% for the year. Unfortunately, that's worse than the broader market decline of 0.4%. 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. Regrettably, last year's performance caps off a bad run, with the shareholders facing a total loss of 9% per year over five years. We realise that Baron Rothschild has said investors should "buy when there is blood on the streets", but we caution that investors should first be sure they are buying a high quality business. While it is well worth considering the different impacts that market conditions can have on the share price, there are other factors that are even more important. To that end, you should be aware of the  2 warning signs  we've spotted with Freelancer .



For those who like to find winning investments this freelist of growing companies with recent insider purchasing, could be just the ticket.

Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on AU 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.

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