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If You Had Bought Enstar Group (NASDAQ:ESGR) Stock Three Years Ago, You'd Be Sitting On A 23% Loss, Today

For many investors, the main point of stock picking is to generate higher returns than the overall market. But the risk of stock picking is that you will likely buy under-performing companies. Unfortunately, that's been the case for longer term Enstar Group Limited (NASDAQ:ESGR) shareholders, since the share price is down 23% in the last three years, falling well short of the market return of around 28%. It's down 29% in about a quarter. Of course, this share price action may well have been influenced by the 12% decline in the broader market, throughout the period.

View our latest analysis for Enstar Group

In his essay The Superinvestors of Graham-and-Doddsville Warren Buffett described how share prices do not always rationally reflect the value of a business. 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).

Enstar Group saw its EPS decline at a compound rate of 55% per year, over the last three years. In comparison the 8.2% compound annual share price decline isn't as bad as the EPS drop-off. This suggests that the market retains some optimism around long term earnings stability, despite past EPS declines. With a P/E ratio of 115.71, it's fair to say the market sees a brighter future for the business.

The company's earnings per share (over time) is depicted in the image below (click to see the exact numbers).

NasdaqGS:ESGR Past and Future Earnings May 11th 2020
NasdaqGS:ESGR Past and Future Earnings May 11th 2020

We like that insiders have been buying shares in the last twelve months. Having said that, most people consider earnings and revenue growth trends to be a more meaningful guide to the business. Dive deeper into the earnings by checking this interactive graph of Enstar Group's earnings, revenue and cash flow.

A Different Perspective

While the broader market gained around 2.8% in the last year, Enstar Group shareholders lost 18%. Even the share prices of good stocks drop sometimes, but we want to see improvements in the fundamental metrics of a business, before getting too interested. Unfortunately, last year's performance may indicate unresolved challenges, given that it was worse than the annualised loss of 0.8% over the last half decade. Generally speaking long term share price weakness can be a bad sign, though contrarian investors might want to research the stock in hope of a turnaround. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Enstar Group better, we need to consider many other factors. Consider risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 3 warning signs for Enstar Group you should know about.

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.

If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. 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. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned.

We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Thank you for reading.

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