The main goal of stock picking is to find the market-beating stocks. But the main game is to find enough winners to more than offset the losers. At this point, some shareholders may stop investing in Matrix Service Company (NASDAQ:MTRX) as the stock price has fallen 50% over the past five years. Things have been even worse for shareholders recently, with the stock price falling 19% over the past 90 days.

So let’s see if the company’s long-term performance is consistent with its underlying business performance.

Check out our latest analysis for Matrix Service

Since Matrix Service did not make a profit in the last twelve months, we are focusing on revenue growth to get a quick overview of the business performance. Shareholders of unprofitable companies usually want to see strong revenue growth. This is because it is difficult to assume that a company can survive sustainably if revenue growth is negligible and it never makes a profit.

Over the past five years, Matrix Service has seen revenue decline by 15% per year, putting the company in an unattractive group to say the least. It seems pretty reasonable to us that the share price fell by 8% annually during that time. That loss means shareholders are probably pretty upset. Companies can bounce back, but as Buffett says, “turnarounds are rare.”

You can see below how earnings and sales have developed over time (you can find out the exact values ​​by clicking on the image).

How the balance sheet has improved (or worsened) over time can be seen in this free interactive graphics.

A different perspective

Matrix Service shareholders received a total return of 18% over the year. However, this return is below market value. But it’s still a profit! Over five years, the TSR has declined by 8% annually, so this could be a sign that the company has turned a corner. If you want to research Matrix Service in more detail, you should look to see if insiders have been buying or selling shares in the company.

We’ll like Matrix Service better if we see some big insider buying. While we wait, check out this free List of undervalued stocks (mostly small caps) with significant recent insider purchases.

Please note that the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks currently trading on U.S. exchanges.

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This Simply Wall St article is of a general nature. We comment solely on the basis of historical data and analyst forecasts, using an unbiased methodology. Our articles do not constitute financial advice. It is not a recommendation to buy or sell any stock and does not take into account your objectives or financial situation. Our goal is to provide you with long-term analysis based on fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not take into account the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative materials. Simply Wall St does not hold any of the stocks mentioned.