Thermon Group Holdings (NYSE:THR) Shareholders Booked A 14% Gain In The Last Three Years

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Thermon Group Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:THR) shareholders might be concerned after seeing the share price drop 15% in the last quarter. In contrast the stock is up over the last three years. Arguably you'd have been better off buying an index fund, because the gain of 14% in three years isn't amazing.

Check out our latest analysis for Thermon Group Holdings

To paraphrase Benjamin Graham: Over the short term the market is a voting machine, but over the long term it's a weighing machine. 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).

Over the last three years, Thermon Group Holdings failed to grow earnings per share, which fell 0.3% (annualized).

While EPS is down but the share price is moving up, neither move is particularly drastic, suggesting the market was previously too pessimistic. Ultimately, though, we don't think it can maintain share price gains without turning around the EPS growth.

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

NYSE:THR Past and Future Earnings, October 4th 2019
NYSE:THR Past and Future Earnings, October 4th 2019

It's good to see that there was some significant insider buying in the last three months. That's a positive. On the other hand, we think the revenue and earnings trends are much more meaningful measures of the business. Before buying or selling a stock, we always recommend a close examination of historic growth trends, available here..

A Different Perspective

Investors in Thermon Group Holdings had a tough year, with a total loss of 9.8%, against a market gain of about 1.7%. However, keep in mind that even the best stocks will sometimes underperform the market over a twelve month period. Unfortunately, last year's performance may indicate unresolved challenges, given that it was worse than the annualised loss of 0.2% over the last half decade. We realise that Buffett has said investors should 'buy when there is blood on the streets', but we caution that investors should first be sure they are buying a high quality businesses. It is all well and good that insiders have been buying shares, but we suggest you check here to see what price insiders were buying at.

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.

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.

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