Investors Who Bought Noram Ventures (CVE:NRM) Shares Five Years Ago Are Now Down 74%
Noram Ventures Inc. (CVE:NRM) shareholders should be happy to see the share price up 11% in the last week. But spare a thought for the long term holders, who have held the stock as it bled value over the last five years. In fact, the share price has tumbled down a mountain to land 74% lower after that period. It's true that the recent bounce could signal the company is turning over a new leaf, but we are not so sure. The fundamental business performance will ultimately determine if the turnaround can be sustained.
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Check out our latest analysis for Noram Ventures
With zero revenue generated over twelve months, we don't think that Noram Ventures has proved its business plan yet. You have to wonder why venture capitalists aren't funding it. So it seems shareholders are too busy dreaming about the progress to come than dwelling on the current (lack of) revenue. For example, investors may be hoping that Noram Ventures finds some valuable resources, before it runs out of money.
We think companies that have neither significant revenues nor profits are pretty high risk. You should be aware that there is always a chance that this sort of company will need to issue more shares to raise money to continue pursuing its business plan. While some such companies go on to make revenue, profits, and generate value, others get hyped up by hopeful naifs before eventually going bankrupt. Noram Ventures has already given some investors a taste of the bitter losses that high risk investing can cause.
When it reported in October 2018 Noram Ventures had minimal cash in excess of all liabilities consider its expenditure: just CA$246k to be specific. So if it has not already moved to replenish reserves, we think the near-term chances of a capital raising event are pretty high. With that in mind, you can understand why the share price dropped 23% per year, over 5 years. You can see in the image below, how Noram Ventures's cash levels have changed over time (click to see the values).
Of course, the truth is that it is hard to value companies without much revenue or profit. Given that situation, would you be concerned if it turned out insiders were relentlessly selling stock? I would feel more nervous about the company if that were so. You can click here to see if there are insiders selling.
A Different Perspective
While the broader market gained around 2.1% in the last year, Noram Ventures shareholders lost 38%. Even the share prices of good stocks drop sometimes, but we want to see improvements in the fundamental metrics of a business, before getting too interested. Regrettably, last year's performance caps off a bad run, with the shareholders facing a total loss of 23% per year over five years. We realise that Buffett has said investors should 'buy when there is blood on the streets', but we caution that investors should first be sure they are buying a high quality businesses. 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 Noram Ventures by clicking this link.
Noram Ventures is not the only stock insiders are buying. So take a peek at this free list of growing companies with insider buying.
Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on CA exchanges.
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