Shareholders in Avino Silver & Gold Mines (TSE:ASM) are in the red if they invested three years ago

Avino Silver & Gold Mines Ltd. (TSE:ASM) shareholders should be happy to see the share price up 11% in the last month. But over the last three years we've seen a quite serious decline. In that time, the share price dropped 58%. So it's good to see it climbing back up. The rise has some hopeful, but turnarounds are often precarious.

Now let's have a look at the company's fundamentals, and see if the long term shareholder return has matched the performance of the underlying business.

View our latest analysis for Avino Silver & Gold Mines

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.

During five years of share price growth, Avino Silver & Gold Mines moved from a loss to profitability. We would usually expect to see the share price rise as a result. So it's worth looking at other metrics to try to understand the share price move.

We note that, in three years, revenue has actually grown at a 52% annual rate, so that doesn't seem to be a reason to sell shares. This analysis is just perfunctory, but it might be worth researching Avino Silver & Gold Mines more closely, as sometimes stocks fall unfairly. This could present an opportunity.

The graphic below depicts how earnings and revenue have changed over time (unveil the exact values by clicking on the image).

earnings-and-revenue-growth

It is of course excellent to see how Avino Silver & Gold Mines has grown profits over the years, but the future is more important for shareholders. If you are thinking of buying or selling Avino Silver & Gold Mines stock, you should check out this FREE detailed report on its balance sheet.

A Different Perspective

Avino Silver & Gold Mines shareholders are down 24% for the year, but the market itself is up 11%. However, keep in mind that even the best stocks will sometimes underperform the market over a twelve month period. Regrettably, last year's performance caps off a bad run, with the shareholders facing a total loss of 3% per year over five years. We realise that Baron Rothschild has said investors should "buy when there is blood on the streets", but we caution that investors should first be sure they are buying a high quality business. 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. For instance, we've identified 4 warning signs for Avino Silver & Gold Mines that you should be aware of.

But note: Avino Silver & Gold Mines may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies with past earnings growth (and further growth forecast).

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