The worst result, after buying shares in a company (assuming no leverage), would be if you lose all the money you put in. But when you pick a company that is really flourishing, you can make more than 100%. For instance the Perma-Fix Environmental Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:PESI) share price is 258% higher than it was three years ago. That sort of return is as solid as granite. It's also good to see the share price up 33% over the last quarter.

The past week has proven to be lucrative for Perma-Fix Environmental Services investors, so let's see if fundamentals drove the company's three-year performance.

Perma-Fix Environmental Services isn't currently profitable, so most analysts would look to revenue growth to get an idea of how fast the underlying business is growing. Generally speaking, companies without profits are expected to grow revenue every year, and at a good clip. That's because fast revenue growth can be easily extrapolated to forecast profits, often of considerable size.

Perma-Fix Environmental Services actually saw its revenue drop by 8.9% per year over three years. So we wouldn't have expected the share price to gain 53% per year, but it has. It's fair to say shareholders are definitely counting on a bright future.

The graphic below depicts how earnings and revenue have changed over time (unveil the exact values by clicking on the image).

It's probably worth noting that the CEO is paid less than the median at similar sized companies. But while CEO remuneration is always worth checking, the really important question is whether the company can grow earnings going forward.

A Different Perspective

It's good to see that Perma-Fix Environmental Services has rewarded shareholders with a total shareholder return of 32% in the last twelve months. Since the one-year TSR is better than the five-year TSR (the latter coming in at 17% per year), it would seem that the stock's performance has improved in recent times. Someone with an optimistic perspective could view the recent improvement in TSR as indicating that the business itself is getting better with time. If you would like to research Perma-Fix Environmental Services in more detail then you might want to take a look at whether insiders have been buying or selling shares in the company.

We will like Perma-Fix Environmental Services better if we see some big insider buys.

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

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.