Did You Miss SIFCO Industries' (NYSEMKT:SIF) Whopping 489% Share Price Gain?
For many, the main point of investing in the stock market is to achieve spectacular returns. When you find (and hold) a big winner, you can markedly improve your finances. For example, SIFCO Industries, Inc. (NYSEMKT:SIF) has generated a beautiful 489% return in just a single year. Also pleasing for shareholders was the 39% gain in the last three months. It is also impressive that the stock is up 133% over three years, adding to the sense that it is a real winner.
Check out our latest analysis for SIFCO Industries
To paraphrase Benjamin Graham: Over the short term the market is a voting machine, but over the long term it's a weighing machine. 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 last year SIFCO Industries grew its earnings per share, moving from a loss to a profit.
When a company is just on the edge of profitability it can be well worth considering other metrics in order to more precisely gauge growth (and therefore understand share price movements).
Revenue was pretty flat year on year, but maybe a closer look at the data can explain the market optimism.
The graphic below depicts how earnings and revenue have changed over time (unveil the exact values by clicking on the image).
We consider it positive that insiders have made significant purchases in the last year. Even so, future earnings will be far more important to whether current shareholders make money. Before buying or selling a stock, we always recommend a close examination of historic growth trends, available here..
A Different Perspective
It's good to see that SIFCO Industries has rewarded shareholders with a total shareholder return of 489% in the last twelve months. Since the one-year TSR is better than the five-year TSR (the latter coming in at 6% per year), it would seem that the stock's performance has improved in recent times. Someone with an optimistic perspective could view the recent improvement in TSR as indicating that the business itself is getting better with time. While it is well worth considering the different impacts that market conditions can have on the share price, there are other factors that are even more important. Even so, be aware that SIFCO Industries is showing 4 warning signs in our investment analysis , and 2 of those are a bit concerning...
If you like to buy stocks alongside management, then you might just love this free list of companies. (Hint: insiders have been buying them).
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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