Gevo, Inc. (NASDAQ:GEVO) shareholders might be concerned after seeing the share price drop 24% in the last week. While that might be a setback, it doesn't negate the nice returns received over the last twelve months. After all, the share price is up a market-beating 76% in that time.

In light of the stock dropping 24% in the past week, we want to investigate the longer term story, and see if fundamentals have been the driver of the company's positive one-year return.

Gevo isn't currently profitable, so most analysts would look to revenue growth to get an idea of how fast the underlying business is growing. Shareholders of unprofitable companies usually desire strong revenue growth. Some companies are willing to postpone profitability to grow revenue faster, but in that case one would hope for good top-line growth to make up for the lack of earnings.

In the last year Gevo saw its revenue grow by 98%. That's well above most other pre-profit companies. While the share price gain of 76% over twelve months is pretty tasty, you might argue it doesn't fully reflect the strong revenue growth. So quite frankly it could be a good time to investigate Gevo in some detail. Since we evolved from monkeys, we think in linear terms by nature. So if growth goes exponential, opportunity may exist for the enlightened.

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

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

It's good to see that Gevo has rewarded shareholders with a total shareholder return of 76% in the last twelve months. That certainly beats the loss of about 2% per year over the last half decade. We generally put more weight on the long term performance over the short term, but the recent improvement could hint at a (positive) inflection point within the business. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Gevo better, we need to consider many other factors. Even so, be aware that Gevo is showing 2 warning signs in our investment analysis , you should know about...

If you like to buy stocks alongside management, then you might just love this free list of companies. (Hint: many of them are unnoticed AND have attractive valuation).

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.