These days it's easy to simply buy an index fund, and your returns should (roughly) match the market. But you can significantly boost your returns by picking above-average stocks. For example, the CommScope Holding Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:COMM) share price is up 64% in the last year, clearly besting the market return of around 50% (not including dividends). That's a solid performance by our standards! Zooming out, the stock is actually down 39% in the last three years.

See our latest analysis for CommScope Holding Company

Because CommScope Holding Company 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 expect strong revenue growth. That's because fast revenue growth can be easily extrapolated to forecast profits, often of considerable size.

CommScope Holding Company actually shrunk its revenue over the last year, with a reduction of 8.7%. Despite the lack of revenue growth, the stock has returned a solid 64% the last twelve months. To us that means that there isn't a lot of correlation between the past revenue performance and the share price, but a closer look at analyst forecasts and the bottom line may well explain a lot.

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

CommScope Holding Company is a well known stock, with plenty of analyst coverage, suggesting some visibility into future growth. So we recommend checking out this free report showing consensus forecasts

A Different Perspective

It's good to see that CommScope Holding Company has rewarded shareholders with a total shareholder return of 64% in the last twelve months. Notably the five-year annualised TSR loss of 7% per year compares very unfavourably with the recent share price performance. 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. 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. For example, we've discovered 3 warning signs for CommScope Holding Company that you should be aware of before investing here.

If you would prefer to check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss this free list of companies that have proven they can grow earnings.

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

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. 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.

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