Introducing Thessaloniki Port Authority Societe Anonyme (ATH:OLTH), A Stock That Climbed 25% In The Last Five Years

When you buy and hold a stock for the long term, you definitely want it to provide a positive return. But more than that, you probably want to see it rise more than the market average. Unfortunately for shareholders, while the Thessaloniki Port Authority Societe Anonyme (ATH:OLTH) share price is up 25% in the last five years, that's less than the market return. Unfortunately the share price is down 10.0% in the last year.

View our latest analysis for Thessaloniki Port Authority Societe Anonyme

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

During five years of share price growth, Thessaloniki Port Authority Societe Anonyme actually saw its EPS drop 4.8% per year.

Since EPS is down a bit, and the share price is up, it's probably that the market previously had some concerns about the company, but the reality has been better than feared. Having said that, if the EPS falls continue we'd be surprised to see a sustained increase in share price.

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

This free interactive report on Thessaloniki Port Authority Societe Anonyme's earnings, revenue and cash flow is a great place to start, if you want to investigate the stock further.

What About Dividends?

It is important to consider the total shareholder return, as well as the share price return, for any given stock. 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. Arguably, the TSR gives a more comprehensive picture of the return generated by a stock. In the case of Thessaloniki Port Authority Societe Anonyme, it has a TSR of 45% for the last 5 years. That exceeds its share price return that we previously mentioned. And there's no prize for guessing that the dividend payments largely explain the divergence!

A Different Perspective

Although it hurts that Thessaloniki Port Authority Societe Anonyme returned a loss of 5.0% in the last twelve months, the broader market was actually worse, returning a loss of 15%. Longer term investors wouldn't be so upset, since they would have made 8%, each year, over five years. It could be that the business is just facing some short term problems, but shareholders should keep a close eye on the fundamentals. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Thessaloniki Port Authority Societe Anonyme better, we need to consider many other factors. Case in point: We've spotted 2 warning signs for Thessaloniki Port Authority Societe Anonyme you should be aware of, and 1 of them is a bit concerning.

Of course Thessaloniki Port Authority Societe Anonyme 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 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.
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