If You Had Bought Viafin Service Oyj (HEL:VIAFIN) Shares A Year Ago You'd Have Earned 138% Returns

The most you can lose on any stock (assuming you don't use leverage) is 100% of your money. But if you pick the right stock, you can make a lot more than 100%. Take, for example Viafin Service Oyj (HEL:VIAFIN). Its share price is already up an impressive 138% in the last twelve months. It's also good to see the share price up 34% over the last quarter. Viafin Service Oyj hasn't been listed for long, so it's still not clear if it is a long term winner.

View our latest analysis for Viafin Service Oyj

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.

Viafin Service Oyj went from making a loss to reporting a profit, in the last year.

When a company is just on the edge of profitability it can be well worth considering other metrics in order to more precisely gauge growth (and therefore understand share price movements).

We are skeptical of the suggestion that the 1.0% dividend yield would entice buyers to the stock. However the year on year revenue growth of 97% would help. We do see some companies suppress earnings in order to accelerate revenue growth.

The image below shows how earnings and revenue have tracked over time (if you click on the image you can see greater detail).

We know that Viafin Service Oyj has improved its bottom line lately, but what does the future have in store? You can see what analysts are predicting for Viafin Service Oyj in this interactive graph of future profit estimates.

What About Dividends?

As well as measuring the share price return, investors should also consider the total shareholder return (TSR). The TSR is a return calculation that accounts for the value of cash dividends (assuming that any dividend received was reinvested) and the calculated value of any discounted capital raisings and spin-offs. It's fair to say that the TSR gives a more complete picture for stocks that pay a dividend. As it happens, Viafin Service Oyj's TSR for the last year was 145%, which exceeds the share price return mentioned earlier. And there's no prize for guessing that the dividend payments largely explain the divergence!

A Different Perspective

Viafin Service Oyj shareholders should be happy with the total gain of 145% over the last twelve months, including dividends. And the share price momentum remains respectable, with a gain of 34% in the last three months. Demand for the stock from multiple parties is pushing the price higher; it could be that word is getting out about its virtues as a business. While it is well worth considering the different impacts that market conditions can have on the share price, there are other factors that are even more important. Case in point: We've spotted 3 warning signs for Viafin Service Oyj you should be aware of.

We will like Viafin Service Oyj better if we see some big insider buys. While we wait, check out this free list of growing companies with considerable, recent, insider buying.

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