The Golden Star Resources Ltd. (TSE:GSC) share price has had a bad week, falling 11%. But that doesn't change the fact that the returns over the last five years have been pleasing. It has returned a market beating 63% in that time.

View our latest analysis for Golden Star Resources

Golden Star Resources isn't currently profitable, so most analysts would look to revenue growth to get an idea of how fast the underlying business is growing. When a company doesn't make profits, we'd generally expect to see good revenue growth. That's because it's hard to be confident a company will be sustainable if revenue growth is negligible, and it never makes a profit.

Over the last half decade Golden Star Resources's revenue has actually been trending down at about 7.6% per year. Despite the lack of revenue growth, the stock has returned a respectable 10%, compound, over that time. It's probably worth checking other factors such as the profitability, to try to understand the share price action. It may not be reflecting the revenue.

Depicted in the graphic below, you'll see revenue and earnings over time. If you want more detail, you can click on the chart itself.

It's good to see that there was some significant insider buying in the last three months. That's a positive. On the other hand, we think the revenue and earnings trends are much more meaningful measures of the business. If you are thinking of buying or selling Golden Star Resources stock, you should check out this free report showing analyst profit forecasts.

A Different Perspective

It's good to see that Golden Star Resources has rewarded shareholders with a total shareholder return of 17% in the last twelve months. That gain is better than the annual TSR over five years, which is 10%. Therefore it seems like sentiment around the company has been positive lately. Someone with an optimistic perspective could view the recent improvement in TSR as indicating that the business itself is getting better with time. Investors who like to make money usually check up on insider purchases, such as the price paid, and total amount bought. You can find out about the insider purchases of Golden Star Resources by clicking this link.

Golden Star Resources is not the only stock that insiders are buying. For those who like to find winning investments this free list of growing companies with recent insider purchasing, could be just the ticket.

Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on CA exchanges.

We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.

If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.