Yahoo Finance Investors in Lattice Semiconductor (NASDAQ:LSCC) have made a incredible return of 987% over the past five years
Long term investing can be life changing when you buy and hold the truly great businesses. While the best companies are hard to find, but they can generate massive returns over long periods. Just think about the savvy investors who held Lattice Semiconductor Corporation (NASDAQ:LSCC) shares for the last five years, while they gained 987%. If that doesn't get you thinking about long term investing, we don't know what will. It's also good to see the share price up 41% over the last quarter. We love happy stories like this one. The company should be really proud of that performance!
So let's assess the underlying fundamentals over the last 5 years and see if they've moved in lock-step with shareholder returns.
View our latest analysis for Lattice Semiconductor
To paraphrase Benjamin Graham: Over the short term the market is a voting machine, but over the long term it's a weighing machine. 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.
During the five years of share price growth, Lattice Semiconductor moved from a loss to profitability. That kind of transition can be an inflection point that justifies a strong share price gain, just as we have seen here. Given that the company made a profit three years ago, but not five years ago, it is worth looking at the share price returns over the last three years, too. We can see that the Lattice Semiconductor share price is up 248% in the last three years. During the same period, EPS grew by 88% each year. This EPS growth is higher than the 51% average annual increase in the share price over the same three years. So you might conclude the market is a little more cautious about the stock, these days. Of course, with a P/E ratio of 63.88, the market remains optimistic.
The image below shows how EPS has tracked over time (if you click on the image you can see greater detail).
We like that insiders have been buying shares in the last twelve months. Having said that, most people consider earnings and revenue growth trends to be a more meaningful guide to the business. Before buying or selling a stock, we always recommend a close examination of historic growth trends, available here..
A Different Perspective
It's good to see that Lattice Semiconductor has rewarded shareholders with a total shareholder return of 33% in the last twelve months. However, the TSR over five years, coming in at 61% per year, is even more impressive. The pessimistic view would be that be that the stock has its best days behind it, but on the other hand the price might simply be moderating while the business itself continues to execute. It is all well and good that insiders have been buying shares, but we suggest you check here to see what price insiders were buying at.
Lattice Semiconductor is not the only stock insiders are buying. So take a peek at this free list of growing companies with insider buying.
Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on US 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.
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