PIERER Mobility (VIE:PKTM) earnings and shareholder returns have been trending downwards for the last year, but the stock ascends 6.0% this past week

Even the best stock pickers will make plenty of bad investments. And there's no doubt that PIERER Mobility AG (VIE:PKTM) stock has had a really bad year. The share price is down a hefty 62% in that time. Notably, shareholders had a tough run over the longer term, too, with a drop of 59% in the last three years. Shareholders have had an even rougher run lately, with the share price down 30% in the last 90 days.

On a more encouraging note the company has added €57m to its market cap in just the last 7 days, so let's see if we can determine what's driven the one-year loss for shareholders.

See our latest analysis for PIERER Mobility

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 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.

Unfortunately PIERER Mobility reported an EPS drop of 53% for the last year. We note that the 62% share price drop is very close to the EPS drop. Given the lower EPS we might have expected investors to lose confidence in the stock, but that doesn't seemed to have happened. Instead, the change in the share price seems to reduction in earnings per share, alone.

The graphic below depicts how EPS has changed over time (unveil the exact values by clicking on the image).

Dive deeper into PIERER Mobility's key metrics by checking this interactive graph of PIERER Mobility's earnings, revenue and cash flow.

A Different Perspective

PIERER Mobility shareholders are down 61% for the year (even including dividends), but the market itself is up 19%. 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 7% over the last half decade. We realise that Baron Rothschild 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 business. I find it very interesting to look at share price over the long term as a proxy for business performance. But to truly gain insight, we need to consider other information, too. Even so, be aware that PIERER Mobility is showing 4 warning signs in our investment analysis , and 3 of those are significant...

If you would prefer to check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss this free list of companies that have proven they can grow earnings.

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

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team@simplywallst.com