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Vital Energy, Inc. (NYSE:VTLE) shareholders should be happy to see the share price up 15% in the last quarter. But that cannot eclipse the less-than-impressive returns over the last three years. Truth be told the share price declined 49% in three years and that return, Dear Reader, falls short of what you could have got from passive investing with an index fund.
Given the past week has been tough on shareholders, let's investigate the fundamentals and see what we can learn.
See our latest analysis for Vital Energy
There is no denying that markets are sometimes efficient, but prices do not always reflect underlying business performance. By comparing earnings per share (EPS) and share price changes over time, we can get a feel for how investor attitudes to a company have morphed over time.
During five years of share price growth, Vital Energy moved from a loss to profitability. That would generally be considered a positive, so we are surprised to see the share price is down. So it's worth looking at other metrics to try to understand the share price move.
Revenue is actually up 5.4% over the three years, so the share price drop doesn't seem to hinge on revenue, either. It's probably worth investigating Vital Energy further; while we may be missing something on this analysis, there might also be an opportunity.
The company's revenue and earnings (over time) are depicted in the image below (click to see the exact numbers).
Vital Energy is a well known stock, with plenty of analyst coverage, suggesting some visibility into future growth. If you are thinking of buying or selling Vital Energy stock, you should check out this free report showing analyst consensus estimates for future profits.
A Different Perspective
Investors in Vital Energy had a tough year, with a total loss of 25%, against a market gain of about 34%. However, keep in mind that even the best stocks will sometimes underperform the market over a twelve month period. Regrettably, last year's performance caps off a bad run, with the shareholders facing a total loss of 8% per year over five years. Generally speaking long term share price weakness can be a bad sign, though contrarian investors might want to research the stock in hope of a turnaround. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Vital Energy better, we need to consider many other factors. For instance, we've identified 6 warning signs for Vital Energy (2 don't sit too well with us) that you should be aware of.
Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking elsewhere. So take a peek at this free list of companies we expect will grow earnings.