IODM Limited (ASX:IOD) shareholders have seen the share price descend 20% over the month. But that does not change the realty that the stock's performance has been terrific, over five years. In that time, the share price has soared some 668% higher! So we don't think the recent decline in the share price means its story is a sad one. Only time will tell if there is still too much optimism currently reflected in the share price. While the long term returns are impressive, we do have some sympathy for those who bought more recently, given the 27% drop, in the last year. It really delights us to see such great share price performance for investors.

In light of the stock dropping 10% 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 five-year return.

See our latest analysis for IODM

Given that IODM didn't make a profit in the last twelve months, we'll focus on revenue growth to form a quick view of its business development. Shareholders of unprofitable companies usually expect strong revenue growth. That's because fast revenue growth can be easily extrapolated to forecast profits, often of considerable size.

In the last 5 years IODM saw its revenue grow at 17% per year. That's well above most pre-profit companies. Fortunately, the market has not missed this, and has pushed the share price up by 50% per year in that time. It's never too late to start following a top notch stock like IODM, since some long term winners go on winning for decades. On the face of it, this looks lke a good opportunity, although we note sentiment seems very positive already.

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

Take a more thorough look at IODM's financial health with this free report on its balance sheet.

A Different Perspective

IODM shareholders are down 27% for the year, but the market itself is up 11%. However, keep in mind that even the best stocks will sometimes underperform the market over a twelve month period. Longer term investors wouldn't be so upset, since they would have made 50%, each year, over five years. If the fundamental data continues to indicate long term sustainable growth, the current sell-off could be an opportunity worth considering. 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. Case in point: We've spotted 4 warning signs for IODM you should be aware of, and 2 of them are potentially serious.