Jenoptik (ETR:JEN) sheds €87m, company earnings and investor returns have been trending downwards for past year

Jenoptik AG (ETR:JEN) shareholders should be happy to see the share price up 12% in the last quarter. But that is minimal compensation for the share price under-performance over the last year. In fact the stock is down 10% in the last year, well below the market return.

If the past week is anything to go by, investor sentiment for Jenoptik isn't positive, so let's see if there's a mismatch between fundamentals and the share price.

See our latest analysis for Jenoptik

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...' By comparing earnings per share (EPS) and share price changes over time, we can get a feel for how investor attitudes to a company have morphed over time.

Unhappily, Jenoptik had to report a 6.9% decline in EPS over the last year. The share price decline of 10% is actually more than the EPS drop. So it seems the market was too confident about the business, a year ago.

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

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

A Different Perspective

While the broader market gained around 6.2% in the last year, Jenoptik shareholders lost 9.3% (even including dividends). 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 0.9% 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. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Jenoptik better, we need to consider many other factors. For example, we've discovered 1 warning sign for Jenoptik that you should be aware of before investing here.

Of course Jenoptik may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see this free collection of growth stocks.

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