It's not possible to invest over long periods without making some bad investments. But you have a problem if you face massive losses more than once in a while. So take a moment to sympathize with the long term shareholders of Open Lending Corporation (NASDAQ:LPRO), who have seen the share price tank a massive 83% over a three year period. That'd be enough to cause even the strongest minds some disquiet. While a drop like that is definitely a body blow, money isn't as important as health and happiness.

Since shareholders are down over the longer term, lets look at the underlying fundamentals over the that time and see if they've been consistent with returns.

See our latest analysis for Open Lending

To paraphrase Benjamin Graham: Over the short term the market is a voting machine, but over the long term it's a weighing machine. By comparing earnings per share (EPS) and share price changes over time, we can get a feel for how investor attitudes to a company have morphed over time.

Open Lending saw its EPS decline at a compound rate of 42% per year, over the last three years. This fall in EPS isn't far from the rate of share price decline, which was 44% per year. So it seems like sentiment towards the stock hasn't changed all that much over time. Rather, the share price has approximately tracked EPS growth.

The company's earnings per share (over time) is depicted in the image below (click to see the exact numbers).

Before buying or selling a stock, we always recommend a close examination of historic growth trends, available here.

A Different Perspective

While the broader market gained around 41% in the last year, Open Lending shareholders lost 9.7%. However, keep in mind that even the best stocks will sometimes underperform the market over a twelve month period. Unfortunately, longer term shareholders are suffering worse, given the loss of 8% doled out over the last five years. We'd need to see some sustained improvements in the key metrics before we could muster much enthusiasm. 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. Consider for instance, the ever-present spectre of investment risk. We've identified 1 warning sign with Open Lending , and understanding them should be part of your investment process.

But note: Open Lending may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies with past earnings growth (and further growth forecast).