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It's easy to match the overall market return by buying an index fund. When you buy individual stocks, you can make higher profits, but you also face the risk of under-performance. Unfortunately the Epwin Group Plc (LON:EPWN) share price slid 29% over twelve months. That falls noticeably short of the market decline of around 4.6%. On the other hand, the stock is actually up 8.5% over three years. Shareholders have had an even rougher run lately, with the share price down 14% in the last 90 days. But this could be related to the weak market, which is down 8.0% in the same period.
With that in mind, it's worth seeing if the company's underlying fundamentals have been the driver of long term performance, or if there are some discrepancies.
See our latest analysis for Epwin Group
To quote Buffett, 'Ships will sail around the world but the Flat Earth Society will flourish. There will continue to be wide discrepancies between price and value in the marketplace...' One way to examine how market sentiment has changed over time is to look at the interaction between a company's share price and its earnings per share (EPS).
During the unfortunate twelve months during which the Epwin Group share price fell, it actually saw its earnings per share (EPS) improve by 373%. It could be that the share price was previously over-hyped.
It's fair to say that the share price does not seem to be reflecting the EPS growth. But we might find some different metrics explain the share price movements better.
We don't see any weakness in the Epwin Group's dividend so the steady payout can't really explain the share price drop. The revenue trend doesn't seem to explain why the share price is down. Unless, of course, the market was expecting a revenue uptick.
You can see below how earnings and revenue have changed over time (discover the exact values by clicking on the image).
We know that Epwin Group has improved its bottom line lately, but what does the future have in store? This free report showing analyst forecasts should help you form a view on Epwin Group
What About Dividends?
When looking at investment returns, it is important to consider the difference between total shareholder return (TSR) and share price return. The TSR incorporates the value of any spin-offs or discounted capital raisings, along with any dividends, based on the assumption that the dividends are reinvested. It's fair to say that the TSR gives a more complete picture for stocks that pay a dividend. As it happens, Epwin Group's TSR for the last 1 year was -26%, which exceeds the share price return mentioned earlier. And there's no prize for guessing that the dividend payments largely explain the divergence!