After a sour 2022, the stock market has been sweet so far this year for shareholders of beaten down stocks. There is perhaps no better example than Align Technology (NASDAQ: ALGN). The stock is up nearly two-thirds in value in 2023 alone after falling 67% last year. It rocketed higher after an earnings report last week that left Wall Street thinking growth is getting back on track after it boomed -- and then collapsed -- through the pandemic. But digging a little deeper should give investors pause.

Align provides a suite of integrated offerings -- hardware, software, and services -- that cover the end-to-end journey of straightening misaligned teeth. But the engine is demand for its clear aligners. They're an aesthetically pleasing alternative to the old bracket and wire braces many of us grew up with. The aligners made up 82% of revenue last year. Management measures shipments of those aligners in cases. And cases shipped were down 7.5% for the quarter and 7.4% for the entire year. It sounds bad. But the quarter did represent an inflection point. Sequential growth (the most recent quarter compared to the previous one), finally turned positive.

Data source: Align Technology. Chart by Author. QoQ=Quarter-over-Quarter.

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Source Fool.com