Would Shareholders Who Purchased Essential Properties Realty Trust's (NYSE:EPRT) Stock Year Be Happy With The Share price Today?
Investors can approximate the average market return by buying an index fund. But if you buy individual stocks, you can do both better or worse than that. For example, the Essential Properties Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:EPRT) share price is down 21% in the last year. That contrasts poorly with the market return of 22%. We wouldn't rush to judgement on Essential Properties Realty Trust because we don't have a long term history to look at.
See our latest analysis for Essential Properties Realty Trust
To quote Buffett, 'Ships will sail around the world but the Flat Earth Society will flourish. There will continue to be wide discrepancies between price and value in the marketplace...' 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).
Unfortunately Essential Properties Realty Trust reported an EPS drop of 4.8% for the last year. This reduction in EPS is not as bad as the 21% share price fall. This suggests the EPS fall has made some shareholders are more nervous about the business.
The company's earnings per share (over time) is depicted in the image below (click to see the exact numbers).
We consider it positive that insiders have made significant purchases in the last year. Having said that, most people consider earnings and revenue growth trends to be a more meaningful guide to the business. Before buying or selling a stock, we always recommend a close examination of historic growth trends, available here..
What About Dividends?
It is important to consider the total shareholder return, as well as the share price return, for any given stock. The TSR incorporates the value of any spin-offs or discounted capital raisings, along with any dividends, based on the assumption that the dividends are reinvested. It's fair to say that the TSR gives a more complete picture for stocks that pay a dividend. We note that for Essential Properties Realty Trust the TSR over the last year was -16%, which is better than the share price return mentioned above. This is largely a result of its dividend payments!
A Different Perspective
While Essential Properties Realty Trust shareholders are down 16% for the year (even including dividends), the market itself is up 22%. While the aim is to do better than that, it's worth recalling that even great long-term investments sometimes underperform for a year or more. It's great to see a nice little 9.5% rebound in the last three months. Let's just hope this isn't the widely-feared 'dead cat bounce' (which would indicate further declines to come). 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 3 warning signs for Essential Properties Realty Trust you should be aware of, and 1 of them can't be ignored.
Essential Properties Realty Trust is not the only stock that insiders are buying. For those who like to find winning investments this free list of growing companies with recent insider purchasing, could be just the ticket.
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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