NeoGenomics, Inc. (NASDAQ:NEO) shareholders should be happy to see the share price up 17% in the last month. But that doesn't change the fact that the returns over the last three years have been less than pleasing. After all, the share price is down 41% in the last three years, significantly under-performing the market.

While the last three years has been tough for NeoGenomics shareholders, this past week has shown signs of promise. So let's look at the longer term fundamentals and see if they've been the driver of the negative returns.

NeoGenomics 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.

Over three years, NeoGenomics grew revenue at 11% per year. That's a fairly respectable growth rate. Shareholders have seen the share price fall at 12% per year, for three years. This implies the market had higher expectations of NeoGenomics. With revenue growing at a solid clip, now might be the time to focus on the possibility that it will have a brighter future.

The image below shows how earnings and revenue have tracked over time (if you click on the image you can see greater detail).

NeoGenomics is well known by investors, and plenty of clever analysts have tried to predict the future profit levels. If you are thinking of buying or selling NeoGenomics stock, you should check out this free report showing analyst consensus estimates for future profits.

A Different Perspective

Investors in NeoGenomics had a tough year, with a total loss of 2.3%, against a market gain of about 32%. However, keep in mind that even the best stocks will sometimes underperform the market over a twelve month period. Unfortunately, longer term shareholders are suffering worse, given the loss of 6% doled out over the last five years. We'd need to see some sustained improvements in the key metrics before we could muster much enthusiasm. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand NeoGenomics better, we need to consider many other factors. Even so, be aware that NeoGenomics is showing 1 warning sign in our investment analysis , you should know about...

Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking elsewhere. So take a peek at this free list of companies we expect will grow earnings.

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.