Those who invested in Ingevity (NYSE:NGVT) a year ago are up 24%
These days it's easy to simply buy an index fund, and your returns should (roughly) match the market. But if you pick the right individual stocks, you could make more than that. To wit, the Ingevity Corporation (NYSE:NGVT) share price is 24% higher than it was a year ago, much better than the market decline of around 9.7% (not including dividends) in the same period. That's a solid performance by our standards! The longer term returns are positive, with the share price up 23% in three years.
With that in mind, it's worth seeing if the company's underlying fundamentals have been the driver of long term performance, or if there are some discrepancies.
Check out our latest analysis for Ingevity
While markets are a powerful pricing mechanism, share prices reflect investor sentiment, not just underlying business performance. One flawed but reasonable way to assess how sentiment around a company has changed is to compare the earnings per share (EPS) with the share price.
Ingevity was able to grow EPS by 74% in the last twelve months. It's fair to say that the share price gain of 24% did not keep pace with the EPS growth. Therefore, it seems the market isn't as excited about Ingevity as it was before. This could be an opportunity.
The image below shows how EPS has tracked over time (if you click on the image you can see greater detail).
We know that Ingevity has improved its bottom line lately, but is it going to grow revenue? Check if analysts think Ingevity will grow revenue in the future.
A Different Perspective
It's nice to see that Ingevity shareholders have received a total shareholder return of 24% over the last year. That gain is better than the annual TSR over five years, which is 1.9%. Therefore it seems like sentiment around the company has been positive lately. Given the share price momentum remains strong, it might be worth taking a closer look at the stock, lest you miss an opportunity. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Ingevity better, we need to consider many other factors. To that end, you should be aware of the 2 warning signs we've spotted with Ingevity .
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.
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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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