Even after rising 18% this past week, Dar Al Takaful PJSC (DFM:DARTAKAFUL) shareholders are still down 39% over the past year

Dar Al Takaful PJSC (DFM:DARTAKAFUL) shareholders should be happy to see the share price up 18% in the last week. But that doesn't change the fact that the returns over the last year have been less than pleasing. In fact the stock is down 39% in the last year, well below the market return.

The recent uptick of 18% could be a positive sign of things to come, so let's take a look at historical fundamentals.

Check out our latest analysis for Dar Al Takaful PJSC

While markets are a powerful pricing mechanism, share prices reflect investor sentiment, not just underlying business performance. 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.

Dar Al Takaful PJSC fell to a loss making position during the year. Some investors no doubt dumped the stock as a result. However, there may be an opportunity for investors if the company can recover.

The image below shows how EPS has tracked over time (if you click on the image you can see greater detail).

Before buying or selling a stock, we always recommend a close examination of historic growth trends, available here.

A Different Perspective

While the broader market gained around 23% in the last year, Dar Al Takaful PJSC shareholders lost 39%. 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. On the bright side, long term shareholders have made money, with a gain of 3% per year over half a decade. If the fundamental data continues to indicate long term sustainable growth, the current sell-off could be an opportunity worth considering. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Dar Al Takaful PJSC better, we need to consider many other factors. Even so, be aware that Dar Al Takaful PJSC is showing 3 warning signs in our investment analysis , and 2 of those make us uncomfortable...

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Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on AE 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.