Equity Commonwealth (NYSE:EQC) shareholders have earned a 0.7% CAGR over the last three years
For many investors, the main point of stock picking is to generate higher returns than the overall market. But if you try your hand at stock picking, your risk returning less than the market. We regret to report that long term Equity Commonwealth (NYSE:EQC) shareholders have had that experience, with the share price dropping 19% in three years, versus a market return of about 43%.
Now let's have a look at the company's fundamentals, and see if the long term shareholder return has matched the performance of the underlying business.
View our latest analysis for Equity Commonwealth
While the efficient markets hypothesis continues to be taught by some, it has been proven that markets are over-reactive dynamic systems, and investors are not always rational. 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.
Over the three years that the share price declined, Equity Commonwealth's earnings per share (EPS) dropped significantly, falling to a loss. Due to the loss, it's not easy to use EPS as a reliable guide to the business. But it's safe to say we'd generally expect the share price to be lower as a result!
The image below shows how EPS has tracked over time (if you click on the image you can see greater detail).
Dive deeper into Equity Commonwealth's key metrics by checking this interactive graph of Equity Commonwealth's earnings, revenue and cash flow.
What about the Total Shareholder Return (TSR)?
Investors should note that there's a difference between Equity Commonwealth's total shareholder return (TSR) and its share price change, which we've covered above. Arguably the TSR is a more complete return calculation because it accounts for the value of dividends (as if they were reinvested), along with the hypothetical value of any discounted capital that have been offered to shareholders. Its history of dividend payouts mean that Equity Commonwealth's TSR of 2.0% over the last 3 years is better than the share price return.
A Different Perspective
While it's never nice to take a loss, Equity Commonwealth shareholders can take comfort that their trailing twelve month loss of 5.0% wasn't as bad as the market loss of around 12%. Longer term investors wouldn't be so upset, since they would have made 3%, each year, over five years. In the best case scenario the last year is just a temporary blip on the journey to a brighter future. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Equity Commonwealth better, we need to consider many other factors. Consider risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 1 warning sign for Equity Commonwealth you should know about.
We will like Equity Commonwealth better if we see some big insider buys. While we wait, check out this free list of growing companies with considerable, recent, insider buying.
Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on US exchanges.
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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. 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.
