While Vinyl Group Ltd (ASX:VNL) shareholders are probably generally happy, the stock hasn't had particularly good run recently, with the share price falling 20% in the last quarter. But looking back over the last year, the returns have actually been rather pleasing! Looking at the full year, the company has easily bested an index fund by gaining 78%.

So let's investigate and see if the longer term performance of the company has been in line with the underlying business' progress.

See our latest analysis for Vinyl Group

Because Vinyl Group made a loss in the last twelve months, we think the market is probably more focussed on revenue and revenue growth, at least for now. 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 Vinyl Group saw its revenue grow by 757%. That's well above most other pre-profit companies. The solid 78% share price gain goes down pretty well, but it's not necessarily as good as you might expect given the top notch revenue growth. So quite frankly it could be a good time to investigate Vinyl Group in some detail. Human beings have trouble conceptualizing (and valuing) exponential growth. Is that what we're seeing here?

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 we've seen significant insider buying in the last quarter, which we consider a positive. On the other hand, we think the revenue and earnings trends are much more meaningful measures of the business. Before buying or selling a stock, we always recommend a close examination of historic growth trends, available here..

What About The Total Shareholder Return (TSR)?

Investors should note that there's a difference between Vinyl Group's total shareholder return (TSR) and its share price change, which we've covered above. The TSR attempts to capture the value of dividends (as if they were reinvested) as well as any spin-offs or discounted capital raisings offered to shareholders. We note that Vinyl Group's TSR, at 80% is higher than its share price return of 78%. When you consider it hasn't been paying a dividend, this data suggests shareholders have benefitted from a spin-off, or had the opportunity to acquire attractively priced shares in a discounted capital raising.

A Different Perspective

We're pleased to report that Vinyl Group shareholders have received a total shareholder return of 80% over one year. There's no doubt those recent returns are much better than the TSR loss of 9% per year over five years. The long term loss makes us cautious, but the short term TSR gain certainly hints at a brighter future. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Vinyl Group better, we need to consider many other factors. Even so, be aware that Vinyl Group is showing 4 warning signs in our investment analysis , and 2 of those are potentially serious...