Long term investing can be life changing when you buy and hold the truly great businesses. While not every stock performs well, when investors win, they can win big. To wit, the Aemetis, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMTX) share price has soared 386% over five years. This just goes to show the value creation that some businesses can achieve. It's also good to see the share price up 70% over the last quarter.

On the back of a solid 7-day performance, let's check what role the company's fundamentals have played in driving long term shareholder returns.

Aemetis 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. As you can imagine, fast revenue growth, when maintained, often leads to fast profit growth.

In the last 5 years Aemetis saw its revenue grow at 5.7% per year. Put simply, that growth rate fails to impress. So shareholders should be pretty elated with the 37% increase per year, in that time. We'll tip our hats to that, any day, but the top-line growth isn't particularly impressive when you compare it to other pre-profit companies. Having said that, a closer look at the numbers might surface good reasons to believe that profits will gush in the future.

You can see below how earnings and revenue have changed over time (discover the exact values by clicking on the image).

Balance sheet strength is crucial. It might be well worthwhile taking a look at our free report on how its financial position has changed over time.

A Different Perspective

Aemetis provided a TSR of 0.7% over the last twelve months. But that was short of the market average. On the bright side, the longer term returns (running at about 37% a year, over half a decade) look better. It may well be that this is a business worth popping on the watching, given the continuing positive reception, over time, from the market. 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. Take risks, for example - Aemetis has 4 warning signs (and 2 which can't be ignored) we think you should know about.

We will like Aemetis better if we see some big insider buys. While we wait, check out this free list of undervalued stocks (mostly small caps) with considerable, recent, insider 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.