Strong week for PIERER Mobility (VIE:PKTM) shareholders doesn't alleviate pain of three-year loss

PIERER Mobility AG (VIE:PKTM) shareholders will doubtless be very grateful to see the share price up 39% in the last quarter. But that is small recompense for the exasperating returns over three years. Indeed, the share price is down a tragic 67% in the last three years. So the improvement may be a real relief to some. The rise has some hopeful, but turnarounds are often precarious.

While the last three years has been tough for PIERER Mobility shareholders, this past week has shown signs of promise. So let's look at the longer term fundamentals and see if they've been the driver of the negative returns.

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To quote Buffett, 'Ships will sail around the world but the Flat Earth Society will flourish. There will continue to be wide discrepancies between price and value in the marketplace...' 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.

PIERER Mobility saw its share price decline over the three years in which its EPS also dropped, falling to a loss. Since the company has fallen to a loss making position, it's hard to compare the change in EPS with the share price change. But it's safe to say we'd generally expect the share price to be lower as a result!

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

It might be well worthwhile taking a look at our free report on PIERER Mobility's earnings, revenue and cash flow.

A Different Perspective

PIERER Mobility shareholders are down 34% for the year, but the market itself is up 22%. 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 9% per year over five years. 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. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand PIERER Mobility better, we need to consider many other factors. Take risks, for example - PIERER Mobility has 3 warning signs (and 2 which are a bit concerning) we think you should know about.

But note: PIERER Mobility 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 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.