If You Had Bought OraSure Technologies' (NASDAQ:OSUR) Shares A Year Ago You Would Be Down 40%
Passive investing in an index fund is a good way to ensure your own returns roughly match the overall market. While individual stocks can be big winners, plenty more fail to generate satisfactory returns. Investors in OraSure Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:OSUR) have tasted that bitter downside in the last year, as the share price dropped 40%. That falls noticeably short of the market return of around 55%. Even if you look out three years, the returns are still disappointing, with the share price down40% in that time. Furthermore, it's down 35% in about a quarter. That's not much fun for holders.
View our latest analysis for OraSure Technologies
While markets are a powerful pricing mechanism, share prices reflect investor sentiment, not just underlying business performance. 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).
During the last year OraSure Technologies saw its earnings per share drop below zero. While this may prove temporary, we'd consider it a negative, so it doesn't surprise us that the stock price is down. We hope for shareholders' sake that the company becomes profitable again soon.
The company's earnings per share (over time) is depicted in the image below (click to see the exact numbers).
This free interactive report on OraSure Technologies' earnings, revenue and cash flow is a great place to start, if you want to investigate the stock further.
A Different Perspective
OraSure Technologies shareholders are down 40% for the year, but the market itself is up 55%. 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 6% 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. 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 OraSure Technologies is showing 2 warning signs in our investment analysis , you should know about...
If you are like me, then you will not want to miss this free list of growing companies that insiders are 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. 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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