Yahoo Finance Despite shrinking by CA$94m in the past week, PyroGenesis Canada (TSE:PYR) shareholders are still up 996% over 5 years
The last three months have been tough on PyroGenesis Canada Inc. (TSE:PYR) shareholders, who have seen the share price decline a rather worrying 43%. But that doesn't change the fact that the returns over the last half decade have been spectacular. To be precise, the stock price is 996% higher than it was five years ago, a wonderful performance by any measure. So we don't think the recent decline in the share price means its story is a sad one. But the real question is whether the business fundamentals can improve over the long term. While the long term returns are impressive, we do have some sympathy for those who bought more recently, given the 75% drop, in the last year. We love happy stories like this one. The company should be really proud of that performance!
Although PyroGenesis Canada has shed CA$94m from its market cap this week, let's take a look at its longer term fundamental trends and see if they've driven returns.
Check out our latest analysis for PyroGenesis Canada
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 flawed but reasonable way to assess how sentiment around a company has changed is to compare the earnings per share (EPS) with the share price.
During the last half decade, PyroGenesis Canada became profitable. Sometimes, the start of profitability is a major inflection point that can signal fast earnings growth to come, which in turn justifies very strong share price gains.
You can see how EPS has changed over time in the image below (click on the chart to see the exact values).
This free interactive report on PyroGenesis Canada's earnings, revenue and cash flow is a great place to start, if you want to investigate the stock further.
A Different Perspective
Investors in PyroGenesis Canada had a tough year, with a total loss of 75%, against a market gain of about 18%. However, keep in mind that even the best stocks will sometimes underperform the market over a twelve month period. Longer term investors wouldn't be so upset, since they would have made 61%, each year, over five years. If the fundamental data continues to indicate long term sustainable growth, the current sell-off could be an opportunity worth considering. 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. Case in point: We've spotted 4 warning signs for PyroGenesis Canada you should be aware of, and 1 of them is potentially serious.
We will like PyroGenesis Canada better if we see some big insider buys. While we wait, check out this free list of growing companies with considerable, recent, insider buying.
Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on CA exchanges.
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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.
