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The past year for Wagners Holding (ASX:WGN) investors has not been profitable

Passive investing in an index fund is a good way to ensure your own returns roughly match the overall market. When you buy individual stocks, you can make higher profits, but you also face the risk of under-performance. Unfortunately the Wagners Holding Company Limited (ASX:WGN) share price slid 45% over twelve months. That's disappointing when you consider the market declined 6.0%. To make matters worse, the returns over three years have also been really disappointing (the share price is 37% lower than three years ago). The falls have accelerated recently, with the share price down 21% in the last three months. Of course, this share price action may well have been influenced by the 13% decline in the broader market, throughout the period.

It's worthwhile assessing if the company's economics have been moving in lockstep with these underwhelming shareholder returns, or if there is some disparity between the two. So let's do just that.

Check out our latest analysis for Wagners Holding

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 way to examine how market sentiment has changed over time is to look at the interaction between a company's share price and its earnings per share (EPS).

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The last year saw Wagners Holding's EPS really take off. While the business is unlikely to sustain such a high growth rate for long, it's great to see. So we are surprised the share price is down. Some different data might shed some more light on the situation.

Wagners Holding managed to grow revenue over the last year, which is usually a real positive. Since we can't easily explain the share price movement based on these metrics, it might be worth considering how market sentiment has changed towards the stock.

The image below shows how earnings and revenue have tracked over time (if you click on the image you can see greater detail).

earnings-and-revenue-growth
earnings-and-revenue-growth

We know that Wagners Holding has improved its bottom line lately, but what does the future have in store? If you are thinking of buying or selling Wagners Holding stock, you should check out this free report showing analyst profit forecasts.

A Different Perspective

Wagners Holding shareholders are down 45% for the year, falling short of the market return. The market shed around 6.0%, no doubt weighing on the stock price. The three-year loss of 11% per year isn't as bad as the last twelve months, suggesting that the company has not been able to convince the market it has solved its problems. Although Baron Rothschild famously said to "buy when there's blood in the streets, even if the blood is your own", he also focusses on high quality stocks with solid prospects. 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 1 warning sign for Wagners Holding you should be aware of.

We will like Wagners Holding 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 AU exchanges.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.

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.