Advertisement
UK markets closed
  • NIKKEI 225

    37,628.48
    -831.60 (-2.16%)
     
  • HANG SENG

    17,284.54
    +83.27 (+0.48%)
     
  • CRUDE OIL

    83.78
    +0.97 (+1.17%)
     
  • GOLD FUTURES

    2,344.30
    +5.90 (+0.25%)
     
  • DOW

    38,085.80
    -375.12 (-0.98%)
     
  • Bitcoin GBP

    51,825.68
    +615.62 (+1.20%)
     
  • CMC Crypto 200

    1,399.78
    +17.20 (+1.24%)
     
  • NASDAQ Composite

    15,611.76
    -100.99 (-0.64%)
     
  • UK FTSE All Share

    4,387.94
    +13.88 (+0.32%)
     

Those Who Purchased Recipharm (STO:RECI B) Shares Five Years Ago Have A 46% Loss To Show For It

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 Recipharm AB (publ) (STO:RECI B), since the last five years saw the share price fall 46%. And we doubt long term believers are the only worried holders, since the stock price has declined 27% over the last twelve months. Shareholders have had an even rougher run lately, with the share price down 35% in the last 90 days. However, one could argue that the price has been influenced by the general market, which is down 21% in the same timeframe.

Check out our latest analysis for Recipharm

While the efficient markets hypothesis continues to be taught by some, it has been proven that markets are over-reactive dynamic systems, and investors are not always rational. 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.

ADVERTISEMENT

While the share price declined over five years, Recipharm actually managed to increase EPS by an average of 1.8% per year. So it doesn't seem like EPS is a great guide to understanding how the market is valuing the stock. Alternatively, growth expectations may have been unreasonable in the past.

By glancing at these numbers, we'd posit that the the market had expectations of much higher growth, five years ago. Having said that, we might get a better idea of what's going on with the stock by looking at other metrics.

We don't think that the 1.6% is big factor in the share price, since it's quite small, as dividends go. Revenue is actually up 19% over the time period. A more detailed examination of the revenue and earnings may or may not explain why the share price languishes; there could be an opportunity.

The company's revenue and earnings (over time) are depicted in the image below (click to see the exact numbers).

OM:RECI B Income Statement March 27th 2020
OM:RECI B Income Statement March 27th 2020

It's probably worth noting that the CEO is paid less than the median at similar sized companies. It's always worth keeping an eye on CEO pay, but a more important question is whether the company will grow earnings throughout the years. This free report showing analyst forecasts should help you form a view on Recipharm

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. In the case of Recipharm, it has a TSR of -40% for the last 5 years. That exceeds its share price return that we previously mentioned. And there's no prize for guessing that the dividend payments largely explain the divergence!

A Different Perspective

While the broader market lost about 3.7% in the twelve months, Recipharm shareholders did even worse, losing 26% (even including dividends) . However, it could simply be that the share price has been impacted by broader market jitters. It might be worth keeping an eye on the fundamentals, in case there's a good opportunity. Unfortunately, last year's performance may indicate unresolved challenges, given that it was worse than the annualised loss of 9.7% 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. 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 3 warning signs for Recipharm you should be aware of, and 1 of them is a bit unpleasant.

For those who like to find winning investments this free list of growing companies with recent insider purchasing, could be just the ticket.

Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on SE exchanges.

If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. 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. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned.

We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Thank you for reading.