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The worst result, after buying shares in a company (assuming no leverage), would be if you lose all the money you put in. But on the bright side, if you buy shares in a high quality company at the right price, you can gain well over 100%. One great example is Fairfax India Holdings Corporation (TSE:FIH.U) which saw its share price drive 114% higher over five years. It's also good to see the share price up 14% over the last quarter. This could be related to the recent financial results, released recently - you can catch up on the most recent data by reading our company report.
Let's take a look at the underlying fundamentals over the longer term, and see if they've been consistent with shareholders returns.
View our latest analysis for Fairfax India Holdings
While markets are a powerful pricing mechanism, share prices reflect investor sentiment, not just underlying business performance. By comparing earnings per share (EPS) and share price changes over time, we can get a feel for how investor attitudes to a company have morphed over time.
During five years of share price growth, Fairfax India Holdings actually saw its EPS drop 21% per year. The impact of extraordinary items on earnings, in the last year, partially explain the diversion.
Essentially, it doesn't seem likely that investors are focused on EPS. Since the change in EPS doesn't seem to correlate with the change in share price, it's worth taking a look at other metrics.
It is not great to see that revenue has dropped by 15% per year over five years. It certainly surprises us that the share price is up, but perhaps a closer examination of the data will yield answers.
The company's revenue and earnings (over time) are depicted in the image below (click to see the exact numbers).
It's probably worth noting that the CEO is paid less than the median at similar sized companies. It's always worth keeping an eye on CEO pay, but a more important question is whether the company will grow earnings throughout the years. It might be well worthwhile taking a look at our free report on Fairfax India Holdings' earnings, revenue and cash flow.
A Different Perspective
We're pleased to report that Fairfax India Holdings shareholders have received a total shareholder return of 29% over one year. Since the one-year TSR is better than the five-year TSR (the latter coming in at 16% per year), it would seem that the stock's performance has improved in recent times. In the best case scenario, this may hint at some real business momentum, implying that now could be a great time to delve deeper. 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. Take risks, for example - Fairfax India Holdings has 1 warning sign we think you should be aware of.