Biokarpet (ATH:BIOKA) delivers shareholders incredible 40% CAGR over 5 years, surging 11% in the last week alone

Long term investing can be life changing when you buy and hold the truly great businesses. While the best companies are hard to find, but they can generate massive returns over long periods. Don't believe it? Then look at the Biokarpet S.A. (ATH:BIOKA) share price. It's 444% higher than it was five years ago. If that doesn't get you thinking about long term investing, we don't know what will. And in the last month, the share price has gained 32%.

Since it's been a strong week for Biokarpet shareholders, let's have a look at trend of the longer term fundamentals.

Check out our latest analysis for Biokarpet

There is no denying that markets are sometimes efficient, but prices do not always reflect underlying business performance. 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.

During the last half decade, Biokarpet became profitable. Sometimes, the start of profitability is a major inflection point that can signal fast earnings growth to come, which in turn justifies very strong share price gains.

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

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

What About The Total Shareholder Return (TSR)?

We'd be remiss not to mention the difference between Biokarpet's total shareholder return (TSR) and its share price return. Arguably the TSR is a more complete return calculation because it accounts for the value of dividends (as if they were reinvested), along with the hypothetical value of any discounted capital that have been offered to shareholders. We note that Biokarpet's TSR, at 447% is higher than its share price return of 444%. When you consider it hasn't been paying a dividend, this data suggests shareholders have benefitted from a spin-off, or had the opportunity to acquire attractively priced shares in a discounted capital raising.

A Different Perspective

It's good to see that Biokarpet has rewarded shareholders with a total shareholder return of 73% in the last twelve months. That's better than the annualised return of 40% over half a decade, implying that the company is doing better recently. Given the share price momentum remains strong, it might be worth taking a closer look at the stock, lest you miss an opportunity. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Biokarpet better, we need to consider many other factors. For instance, we've identified 5 warning signs for Biokarpet (2 are potentially serious) that you should be aware of.

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 Greek 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.