If You Had Bought Lee Enterprises (NASDAQ:LEE) Shares A Year Ago You'd Have Earned 237% Returns

Lee Enterprises, Incorporated (NASDAQ:LEE) shareholders might be concerned after seeing the share price drop 13% in the last quarter. But that doesn't change the fact that the returns over the last year have been very strong. Indeed, the share price is up an impressive 237% in that time. So it may be that the share price is simply cooling off after a strong rise. Investors should be wondering whether the business itself has the fundamental value required to continue to drive gains.

Check out our latest analysis for Lee Enterprises

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 imperfect but simple way to consider how the market perception of a company has shifted is to compare the change in the earnings per share (EPS) with the share price movement.

During the last year Lee Enterprises grew its earnings per share, moving from a loss to a profit.

When a company has just transitioned to profitability, earnings per share growth is not always the best way to look at the share price action.

However the year on year revenue growth of 57% would help. Many businesses do go through a phase where they have to forgo some profits to drive business development, and sometimes its for the best.

You can see how earnings and revenue have changed over time in the image below (click on the chart to see the exact values).

earnings-and-revenue-growth

We like that insiders have been buying shares in the last twelve months. Even so, future earnings will be far more important to whether current shareholders make money. This free interactive report on Lee Enterprises' earnings, revenue and cash flow is a great place to start, if you want to investigate the stock further.

A Different Perspective

It's nice to see that Lee Enterprises shareholders have received a total shareholder return of 237% over the last year. Since the one-year TSR is better than the five-year TSR (the latter coming in at 8% 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. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Lee Enterprises better, we need to consider many other factors. Like risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 4 warning signs for Lee Enterprises (of which 3 don't sit too well with us!) you should know about.

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.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.