If You Had Bought Lululemon Athletica (NASDAQ:LULU) Stock Five Years Ago, You Could Pocket A 346% Gain Today
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We think all investors should try to buy and hold high quality multi-year winners. While the best companies are hard to find, but they can generate massive returns over long periods. For example, the Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ:LULU) share price is up a whopping 346% in the last half decade, a handsome return for long term holders. And this is just one example of the epic gains achieved by some long term investors. It's also good to see the share price up 27% over the last quarter. The company reported its financial results recently; you can catch up on the latest numbers by reading our company report.
See our latest analysis for Lululemon Athletica
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.
Over half a decade, Lululemon Athletica managed to grow its earnings per share at 17% a year. This EPS growth is slower than the share price growth of 35% per year, over the same period. This suggests that market participants hold the company in higher regard, these days. That's not necessarily surprising considering the five-year track record of earnings growth. This optimism is visible in its fairly high P/E ratio of 47.98.
You can see how EPS has changed over time in the image below (click on the chart to see the exact values).
We know that Lululemon Athletica has improved its bottom line lately, but is it going to grow revenue? Check if analysts think Lululemon Athletica will grow revenue in the future.
A Different Perspective
It's nice to see that Lululemon Athletica shareholders have received a total shareholder return of 43% over the last year. That gain is better than the annual TSR over five years, which is 35%. Therefore it seems like sentiment around the company has been positive lately. Someone with an optimistic perspective could view the recent improvement in TSR as indicating that the business itself is getting better with time. Before spending more time on Lululemon Athletica it might be wise to click here to see if insiders have been buying or selling shares.
Of course Lululemon Athletica may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see this free collection of growth stocks.
Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on US exchanges.
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.
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. Thank you for reading.
