These days it's easy to simply buy an index fund, and your returns should (roughly) match the market. But one can do better than that by picking better than average stocks (as part of a diversified portfolio). For example, the C4 Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCCC) share price is up 85% in the last 1 year, clearly besting the market return of around 25% (not including dividends). That's a solid performance by our standards! We'll need to follow C4 Therapeutics for a while to get a better sense of its share price trend, since it hasn't been listed for particularly long.

Since the long term performance has been good but there's been a recent pullback of 8.2%, let's check if the fundamentals match the share price.

Check out our latest analysis for C4 Therapeutics

C4 Therapeutics isn't currently profitable, so most analysts would look to revenue growth to get an idea of how fast the underlying business is growing. Generally speaking, companies without profits are expected to grow revenue every year, and at a good clip. That's because fast revenue growth can be easily extrapolated to forecast profits, often of considerable size.

In the last year C4 Therapeutics saw its revenue grow by 13%. That's not great considering the company is losing money. The modest growth is probably largely reflected in the share price, which is up 85%. While not a huge gain tht seems pretty reasonable. Given the market doesn't seem too excited about the stock, a closer look at the financial data could pay off, if you can find indications of a stronger growth trend in the future.

You can see below how earnings and revenue have changed over time (discover the exact values by clicking on the image).

You can see how its balance sheet has strengthened (or weakened) over time in this free interactive graphic.

A Different Perspective

C4 Therapeutics boasts a total shareholder return of 85% for the last year. That's better than the more recent three month gain of 9.9%, implying that share price has plateaued recently. Having said that, we doubt shareholders would be concerned. It seems the market is simply waiting on more information, because if the business delivers so will the share price (eventually). 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 C4 Therapeutics you should be aware of, and 1 of them is significant.

Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking elsewhere. So take a peek at this free list of companies we expect will 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. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. 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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