Investors in Civeo (NYSE:CVEO) have made a respectable return of 70% over the past three years

Civeo Corporation (NYSE:CVEO) shareholders have seen the share price descend 14% over the month. But over three years, the returns would have left most investors smiling To wit, the share price did better than an index fund, climbing 70% during that period.

Let's take a look at the underlying fundamentals over the longer term, and see if they've been consistent with shareholders returns.

Check out our latest analysis for Civeo

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. 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 three years of share price growth, Civeo moved from a loss to profitability. That would generally be considered a positive, so we'd expect the share price to be up.

You can see below how EPS has changed over time (discover the exact values by clicking on the image).

earnings-per-share-growth

It is of course excellent to see how Civeo has grown profits over the years, but the future is more important for shareholders. If you are thinking of buying or selling Civeo stock, you should check out this FREE detailed report on its balance sheet.

A Different Perspective

It's good to see that Civeo has rewarded shareholders with a total shareholder return of 6.7% in the last twelve months. There's no doubt those recent returns are much better than the TSR loss of 5% per year over five years. We generally put more weight on the long term performance over the short term, but the recent improvement could hint at a (positive) inflection point within the business. I find it very interesting to look at share price over the long term as a proxy for business performance. But to truly gain insight, we need to consider other information, too. To that end, you should learn about the 4 warning signs we've spotted with Civeo (including 2 which don't sit too well with us) .

But note: Civeo may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies with past earnings growth (and further growth forecast).

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.

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