Lululemon Athletica's (NASDAQ:LULU) Wonderful 405% Share Price Increase Shows How Capitalism Can Build Wealth
Buying shares in the best businesses can build meaningful wealth for you and your family. And we've seen some truly amazing gains over the years. Don't believe it? Then look at the Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ:LULU) share price. It's 405% higher than it was five years ago. And this is just one example of the epic gains achieved by some long term investors. It's also good to see the share price up 17% over the last quarter.
Check out our latest analysis for Lululemon Athletica
There is no denying that markets are sometimes efficient, but prices do not always reflect 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 five years of share price growth, Lululemon Athletica achieved compound earnings per share (EPS) growth of 23% per year. This EPS growth is slower than the share price growth of 38% per year, over the same period. So it's fair to assume the market has a higher opinion of the business than it did five years ago. That's not necessarily surprising considering the five-year track record of earnings growth. This favorable sentiment is reflected in its (fairly optimistic) P/E ratio of 73.07.
The image below shows how EPS has tracked over time (if you click on the image you can see greater detail).
It's probably worth noting we've seen significant insider buying in the last quarter, which we consider a positive. That said, we think earnings and revenue growth trends are even more important factors to consider. Dive deeper into the earnings by checking this interactive graph of Lululemon Athletica's earnings, revenue and cash flow.
A Different Perspective
Lululemon Athletica provided a TSR of 19% over the last twelve months. But that was short of the market average. On the bright side, the longer term returns (running at about 38% a year, over half a decade) look better. It's quite possible the business continues to execute with prowess, even as the share price gains are slowing. It is all well and good that insiders have been buying shares, but we suggest you check here to see what price insiders were buying at.
There are plenty of other companies that have insiders buying up shares. You probably do 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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