Yahoo Finance SWK Holdings' (NASDAQ:SWKH) investors will be pleased with their solid 111% return over the last five years
When you buy shares in a company, it's worth keeping in mind the possibility that it could fail, and you could lose your money. But on the bright side, you can make far more than 100% on a really good stock. For instance, the price of SWK Holdings Corporation (NASDAQ:SWKH) stock is up an impressive 111% over the last five years.
Now it's worth having a look at the company's fundamentals too, because that will help us determine if the long term shareholder return has matched the performance of the underlying business.
View our latest analysis for SWK Holdings
There is no denying that markets are sometimes efficient, but prices do not always reflect underlying business performance. 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, SWK Holdings 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. Given that the company made a profit three years ago, but not five years ago, it is worth looking at the share price returns over the last three years, too. We can see that the SWK Holdings share price is up 100% in the last three years. Meanwhile, EPS is up 150% per year. This EPS growth is higher than the 26% 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. This cautious sentiment is reflected in its (fairly low) P/E ratio of 9.34.
The graphic below depicts how EPS has changed over time (unveil the exact values by clicking on the image).
It is of course excellent to see how SWK Holdings has grown profits over the years, but the future is more important for shareholders. Take a more thorough look at SWK Holdings' financial health with this free report on its balance sheet.
A Different Perspective
SWK Holdings provided a TSR of 38% over the year. That's fairly close to the broader market return. That gain looks pretty satisfying, and it is even better than the five-year TSR of 16% per year. It is possible that management foresight will bring growth well into the future, even if the share price slows down. Before forming an opinion on SWK Holdings you might want to consider these 3 valuation metrics.
We will like SWK Holdings 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 US exchanges.
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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