Arista Networks (NYSE: ANET) stock has likely made many investors very happy. But it hasn't all been easy money. Over the past five years, shares have skyrocketed in value. However, there's a sneaky caveat to these returns.

If you had invested $200 into Arista stock exactly five years ago, you'd have $1,043 today. That's a terrific return. If you had invested that money into the S&P 500, for comparison, you'd only have around $374.

Over the past five years, Arista's stock price has been buoyed by rising sales. Since 2019, revenue has jumped by 157%. The stock's price-to-sales ratio, meanwhile, has grown from 8.5 to 16.8 over that time frame. So, not only has the company increased sales considerably, but the price the market is willing to pay for those sales has nearly doubled. In combination, this is what led to Arista's 422% performance over the last five years.

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Source Fool.com