It's nice to see the Open Lending Corporation (NASDAQ:LPRO) share price up 11% in a week. But that doesn't change the fact that the returns over the last year have been disappointing. Specifically, the stock price slipped by 70% in that time. Some might say the recent bounce is to be expected after such a bad drop. Arguably, the fall was overdone.

Although the past week has been more reassuring for shareholders, they're still in the red over the last year, so let's see if the underlying business has been responsible for the decline.

Check out our latest analysis for Open Lending

While markets are a powerful pricing mechanism, share prices reflect investor sentiment, not just underlying business performance. One imperfect but simple way to consider how the market perception of a company has shifted is to compare the change in the earnings per share (EPS) with the share price movement.

During the last year Open Lending grew its earnings per share, moving from a loss to a profit.

When a company has just transitioned to profitability, earnings per share growth is not always the best way to look at the share price action. So it makes sense to check out some other factors.

Open Lending's revenue is actually up 64% over the last year. Since we can't easily explain the share price movement based on these metrics, it might be worth considering how market sentiment has changed towards the stock.

You can see how earnings and revenue have changed over time in the image below (click on the chart to see the exact values).

It's probably worth noting that the CEO is paid less than the median at similar sized companies. It's always worth keeping an eye on CEO pay, but a more important question is whether the company will grow earnings throughout the years. You can see what analysts are predicting for Open Lending in this interactive graph of future profit estimates.

A Different Perspective

The last twelve months weren't great for Open Lending shares, which performed worse than the market, costing holders 70%. Meanwhile, the broader market slid about 15%, likely weighing on the stock. Investors are up over three years, booking 2.8% per year, much better than the more recent returns. Sometimes when a good quality long term winner has a weak period, it's turns out to be an opportunity, but you really need to be sure that the quality is there. 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. For example, we've discovered 1 warning sign for Open Lending that you should be aware of before investing here.