Yahoo Finance Even though Lynas Rare Earths (ASX:LYC) has lost AU$733m market cap in last 7 days, shareholders are still up 318% over 5 years
Lynas Rare Earths Limited (ASX:LYC) shareholders might be concerned after seeing the share price drop 13% in the last quarter. But that does not change the realty that the stock's performance has been terrific, over five years. In fact, during that period, the share price climbed 312%. Impressive! So we don't think the recent decline in the share price means its story is a sad one. Of course what matters most is whether the business can improve itself sustainably, thus justifying a higher price.
While this past week has detracted from the company's five-year return, let's look at the recent trends of the underlying business and see if the gains have been in alignment.
View our latest analysis for Lynas Rare Earths
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 five years of share price growth, Lynas Rare Earths moved from a loss to profitability. 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. Since the company was unprofitable five years ago, but not three years ago, it's worth taking a look at the returns in the last three years, too. Indeed, the Lynas Rare Earths share price has gained 267% in three years. In the same period, EPS is up 68% per year. This EPS growth is higher than the 54% 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.
The image below shows how EPS has tracked over time (if you click on the image you can see greater detail).
It is of course excellent to see how Lynas Rare Earths has grown profits over the years, but the future is more important for shareholders. This free interactive report on Lynas Rare Earths' balance sheet strength is a great place to start, if you want to investigate the stock further.
What About The Total Shareholder Return (TSR)?
We've already covered Lynas Rare Earths' share price action, but we should also mention its total shareholder return (TSR). Arguably the TSR is a more complete return calculation because it accounts for the value of dividends (as if they were reinvested), along with the hypothetical value of any discounted capital that have been offered to shareholders. We note that Lynas Rare Earths' TSR, at 318% is higher than its share price return of 312%. When you consider it hasn't been paying a dividend, this data suggests shareholders have benefitted from a spin-off, or had the opportunity to acquire attractively priced shares in a discounted capital raising.
A Different Perspective
It's nice to see that Lynas Rare Earths shareholders have received a total shareholder return of 2.3% over the last year. Having said that, the five-year TSR of 33% a year, is even better. 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. 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. Even so, be aware that Lynas Rare Earths is showing 1 warning sign in our investment analysis , you should know about...
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Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on AU 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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