In This Article:
Long term investing is the way to go, but that doesn't mean you should hold every stock forever. It hits us in the gut when we see fellow investors suffer a loss. For example, we sympathize with anyone who was caught holding Boyaa Interactive International Limited (HKG:434) during the five years that saw its share price drop a whopping 82%.
While a drop like that is definitely a body blow, money isn't as important as health and happiness.
View our latest analysis for Boyaa Interactive International
There is no denying that markets are sometimes efficient, but prices do not always reflect 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 five years over which the share price declined, Boyaa Interactive International's earnings per share (EPS) dropped by 19% each year. This reduction in EPS is less than the 29% annual reduction in the share price. So it seems the market was too confident about the business, in the past. The less favorable sentiment is reflected in its current P/E ratio of 6.42.
The image below shows how EPS has tracked over time (if you click on the image you can see greater detail).
We're pleased to report that the CEO is remunerated more modestly than most CEOs at similarly capitalized 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. Dive deeper into the earnings by checking this interactive graph of Boyaa Interactive International's earnings, revenue and cash flow.
What about the Total Shareholder Return (TSR)?
We've already covered Boyaa Interactive International's share price action, but we should also mention its total shareholder return (TSR). The TSR is a return calculation that accounts for the value of cash dividends (assuming that any dividend received was reinvested) and the calculated value of any discounted capital raisings and spin-offs. Boyaa Interactive International's TSR of was a loss of 78% for the 5 years. That wasn't as bad as its share price return, because it has paid dividends.
A Different Perspective
Boyaa Interactive International shareholders are down 20% for the year, but the market itself is up 0.7%. Even the share prices of good stocks drop sometimes, but we want to see improvements in the fundamental metrics of a business, before getting too interested. Unfortunately, longer term shareholders are suffering worse, given the loss of 26% 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. I find it very interesting to look at share price over the long term as a proxy for business performance. But to truly gain insight, we need to consider other information, too. Like risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 4 warning signs for Boyaa Interactive International (of which 1 is a bit concerning!) you should know about.