Did You Participate In Any Of Iktinos Hellas Greek Marble Industry Technical and Touristic's (ATH:IKTIN) Fantastic 236% Return ?

When you buy shares in a company, it's worth keeping in mind the possibility that it could fail, and you could lose your money. But on the bright side, if you buy shares in a high quality company at the right price, you can gain well over 100%. Long term Iktinos Hellas S.A. Greek Marble Industry Technical and Touristic Company (ATH:IKTIN) shareholders would be well aware of this, since the stock is up 171% in five years. It's also good to see the share price up 11% over the last quarter. But this move may well have been assisted by the reasonably buoyant market (up 19% in 90 days).

View our latest analysis for Iktinos Hellas Greek Marble Industry Technical and Touristic

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 way to examine how market sentiment has changed over time is to look at the interaction between a company's share price and its earnings per share (EPS).

During five years of share price growth, Iktinos Hellas Greek Marble Industry Technical and Touristic achieved compound earnings per share (EPS) growth of 27% per year. The EPS growth is more impressive than the yearly share price gain of 22% over the same period. So it seems the market isn't so enthusiastic about the stock these days.

You can see how EPS has changed over time in the image below (click on the chart to see the exact values).

This free interactive report on Iktinos Hellas Greek Marble Industry Technical and Touristic's earnings, revenue and cash flow is a great place to start, if you want to investigate the stock further.

What About Dividends?

When looking at investment returns, it is important to consider the difference between total shareholder return (TSR) and share price return. Whereas the share price return only reflects the change in the share price, the TSR includes the value of dividends (assuming they were reinvested) and the benefit of any discounted capital raising or spin-off. It's fair to say that the TSR gives a more complete picture for stocks that pay a dividend. We note that for Iktinos Hellas Greek Marble Industry Technical and Touristic the TSR over the last 5 years was 236%, which is better than the share price return mentioned above. And there's no prize for guessing that the dividend payments largely explain the divergence!

A Different Perspective

We regret to report that Iktinos Hellas Greek Marble Industry Technical and Touristic shareholders are down 46% for the year (even including dividends) . Unfortunately, that's worse than the broader market decline of 17%. Having said that, it's inevitable that some stocks will be oversold in a falling market. The key is to keep your eyes on the fundamental developments. On the bright side, long term shareholders have made money, with a gain of 27% per year over half a decade. It could be that the recent sell-off is an opportunity, so it may be worth checking the fundamental data for signs of a long term growth trend. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Iktinos Hellas Greek Marble Industry Technical and Touristic better, we need to consider many other factors. To that end, you should learn about the 4 warning signs we've spotted with Iktinos Hellas Greek Marble Industry Technical and Touristic (including 1 which is is significant) .

If you are like me, then you will not want to miss this free list of growing companies that insiders are buying.

Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on GR 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. Thank you for reading.