Yahoo Finance The past one-year earnings decline for Oshkosh (NYSE:OSK) likely explains shareholders long-term losses
It's easy to match the overall market return by buying an index fund. But if you buy individual stocks, you can do both better or worse than that. For example, the Oshkosh Corporation (NYSE:OSK) share price is down 16% in the last year. That's well below the market return of 3.5%. Longer term shareholders haven't suffered as badly, since the stock is down a comparatively less painful 5.1% in three years. On the other hand the share price has bounced 9.5% over the last week.
While the last year has been tough for Oshkosh shareholders, this past week has shown signs of promise. So let's look at the longer term fundamentals and see if they've been the driver of the negative returns.
Check out our latest analysis for Oshkosh
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 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.
Unhappily, Oshkosh had to report a 17% decline in EPS over the last year. We note that the 16% share price drop is very close to the EPS drop. So it seems that the market sentiment has not changed much, despite the weak results. Rather, the share price is remains a similar multiple of the EPS, suggesting the outlook remains the same.
The company's earnings per share (over time) is depicted in the image below (click to see the exact numbers).
It might be well worthwhile taking a look at our free report on Oshkosh's earnings, revenue and cash flow.
A Different Perspective
Oshkosh shareholders are down 14% for the year (even including dividends), but the market itself is up 3.5%. However, keep in mind that even the best stocks will sometimes underperform the market over a twelve month period. On the bright side, long term shareholders have made money, with a gain of 3% per year over half a decade. It could be that the recent sell-off is an opportunity, so it may be worth checking the fundamental data for signs of a long term growth trend. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Oshkosh better, we need to consider many other factors. Consider risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 1 warning sign for Oshkosh you should know about.
We will like Oshkosh better if we see some big insider buys. While we wait, check out this free list of growing companies with considerable, recent, insider buying.
Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on American 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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