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Some WPX Energy (NYSE:WPX) Shareholders Are Down 48%

In order to justify the effort of selecting individual stocks, it's worth striving to beat the returns from a market index fund. But the main game is to find enough winners to more than offset the losers At this point some shareholders may be questioning their investment in WPX Energy, Inc. (NYSE:WPX), since the last five years saw the share price fall 48%. And we doubt long term believers are the only worried holders, since the stock price has declined 39% over the last twelve months. But it's up 5.1% in the last week.

View our latest analysis for WPX Energy

There is no denying that markets are sometimes efficient, but prices do not always reflect 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.

WPX Energy became profitable within the last five years. Most would consider that to be a good thing, so it's counter-intuitive to see the share price declining. Other metrics might give us a better handle on how its value is changing over time.

It could be that the revenue decline of 4.3% per year is viewed as evidence that WPX Energy is shrinking. That could explain the weak share price.

The graphic below depicts how earnings and revenue have changed over time (unveil the exact values by clicking on the image).

NYSE:WPX Income Statement, October 25th 2019
NYSE:WPX Income Statement, October 25th 2019

WPX Energy is well known by investors, and plenty of clever analysts have tried to predict the future profit levels. If you are thinking of buying or selling WPX Energy stock, you should check out this free report showing analyst consensus estimates for future profits.

A Different Perspective

Investors in WPX Energy had a tough year, with a total loss of 39%, against a market gain of about 13%. Even the share prices of good stocks drop sometimes, but we want to see improvements in the fundamental metrics of a business, before getting too interested. Regrettably, last year's performance caps off a bad run, with the shareholders facing a total loss of 12% per year over five years. Generally speaking long term share price weakness can be a bad sign, though contrarian investors might want to research the stock in hope of a turnaround. Most investors take the time to check the data on insider transactions. You can click here to see if insiders have been buying or selling.

But note: WPX Energy 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.

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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