Yahoo Finance Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) shareholders have lost 30% over 1 year, earnings decline likely the culprit
Passive investing in an index fund is a good way to ensure your own returns roughly match the overall market. While individual stocks can be big winners, plenty more fail to generate satisfactory returns. Investors in The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) have tasted that bitter downside in the last year, as the share price dropped 31%. That contrasts poorly with the market decline of 0.8%. Longer term shareholders haven't suffered as badly, since the stock is down a comparatively less painful 9.1% in three years. Shareholders have had an even rougher run lately, with the share price down 28% in the last 90 days.
After losing 4.3% this past week, it's worth investigating the company's fundamentals to see what we can infer from past performance.
See our latest analysis for Estée Lauder Companies
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.
Unhappily, Estée Lauder Companies had to report a 67% decline in EPS over the last year. The share price fall of 31% isn't as bad as the reduction in earnings per share. So the market may not be too worried about the EPS figure, at the moment -- or it may have expected earnings to drop faster. Indeed, with a P/E ratio of 59.92 there is obviously some real optimism that earnings will bounce back.
The company's earnings per share (over time) is depicted in the image below (click to see the exact numbers).
This free interactive report on Estée Lauder Companies' earnings, revenue and cash flow is a great place to start, if you want to investigate the stock further.
A Different Perspective
While the broader market gained around 0.8% in the last year, Estée Lauder Companies shareholders lost 30% (even including dividends). 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. Longer term investors wouldn't be so upset, since they would have made 5%, 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. For instance, we've identified 2 warning signs for Estée Lauder Companies that you should be aware of.
If you would prefer to check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss this free list of companies that have proven they can grow earnings.
Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on American exchanges.
Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.
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.
Join A Paid User Research Session
You’ll receive a US$30 Amazon Gift card for 1 hour of your time while helping us build better investing tools for the individual investors like yourself. Sign up here
