If You Had Bought Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) Stock Five Years Ago, You Could Pocket A 35% Gain Today

The main point of investing for the long term is to make money. Furthermore, you'd generally like to see the share price rise faster than the market Unfortunately for shareholders, while the Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:LGND) share price is up 35% in the last five years, that's less than the market return. On a brighter note, more newer shareholders are probably rather content with the 22% share price gain over twelve months.

Check out our latest analysis for Ligand Pharmaceuticals

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 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.

During five years of share price growth, Ligand Pharmaceuticals achieved compound earnings per share (EPS) growth of 27% per year. This EPS growth is higher than the 6.3% average annual increase in the share price. So one could conclude that the broader market has become more cautious towards the stock.

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

We know that Ligand Pharmaceuticals has improved its bottom line over the last three years, but what does the future have in store? It might be well worthwhile taking a look at our free report on how its financial position has changed over time.

A Different Perspective

It's nice to see that Ligand Pharmaceuticals shareholders have received a total shareholder return of 22% over the last year. That's better than the annualised return of 6.3% over half a decade, implying that the company is doing better recently. In the best case scenario, this may hint at some real business momentum, implying that now could be a great time to delve deeper. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Ligand Pharmaceuticals better, we need to consider many other factors. To that end, you should learn about the 2 warning signs we've spotted with Ligand Pharmaceuticals (including 1 which is is a bit unpleasant) .

Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking elsewhere. So take a peek at this free list of companies we expect will grow earnings.

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. 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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