Yahoo Finance If You Had Bought Protective Insurance's (NASDAQ:PTVC.B) Shares Five Years Ago You Would Be Down 40%
The main aim of stock picking is to find the market-beating stocks. But every investor is virtually certain to have both over-performing and under-performing stocks. At this point some shareholders may be questioning their investment in Protective Insurance Corporation (NASDAQ:PTVC.B), since the last five years saw the share price fall 40%.
View our latest analysis for Protective Insurance
Because Protective Insurance made a loss in the last twelve months, we think the market is probably more focussed on revenue and revenue growth, at least for now. When a company doesn't make profits, we'd generally expect to see good revenue growth. As you can imagine, fast revenue growth, when maintained, often leads to fast profit growth.
Over five years, Protective Insurance grew its revenue at 13% per year. That's a pretty good rate for a long time period. We doubt many shareholders are ok with the fact the share price has fallen 7% each year for half a decade. Those who bought back then clearly believed in stronger growth - and maybe even profits. The lesson is that if you buy shares in a money losing company you could end up losing money.
The image below shows how earnings and revenue have tracked over time (if you click on the image you can see greater detail).
We consider it positive that insiders have made significant purchases in the last year. Having said that, most people consider earnings and revenue growth trends to be a more meaningful guide to the business. It might be well worthwhile taking a look at our free report on Protective Insurance's earnings, revenue and cash flow.
What About Dividends?
It is important to consider the total shareholder return, as well as the share price return, for any given stock. 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. It's fair to say that the TSR gives a more complete picture for stocks that pay a dividend. We note that for Protective Insurance the TSR over the last 5 years was -27%, which is better than the share price return mentioned above. This is largely a result of its dividend payments!
A Different Perspective
Investors in Protective Insurance had a tough year, with a total loss of 9.7% (including dividends), against a market gain of about 21%. However, keep in mind that even the best stocks will sometimes underperform the market over a twelve month period. Unfortunately, last year's performance may indicate unresolved challenges, given that it was worse than the annualised loss of 5% over the last half decade. 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 Protective Insurance better, we need to consider many other factors. Case in point: We've spotted 2 warning signs for Protective Insurance you should be aware of, and 1 of them is potentially serious.
There are plenty of other companies that have insiders buying up shares. You probably do not want to miss this free list of growing companies that insiders are buying.
Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on US exchanges.
This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. 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.
Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team@simplywallst.com.
