Amir Marketing and Investments in Agriculture (TLV:AMRK) shareholders are up 10% this past week, but still in the red over the last five years

While not a mind-blowing move, it is good to see that the Amir Marketing and Investments in Agriculture Ltd (TLV:AMRK) share price has gained 14% in the last three months. But if you look at the last five years the returns have not been good. In fact, the share price is down 43%, which falls well short of the return you could get by buying an index fund.

On a more encouraging note the company has added ₪26m to its market cap in just the last 7 days, so let's see if we can determine what's driven the five-year loss for shareholders.

See our latest analysis for Amir Marketing and Investments in Agriculture

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.

Over five years Amir Marketing and Investments in Agriculture's earnings per share dropped significantly, falling to a loss, with the share price also lower. Since the company has fallen to a loss making position, it's hard to compare the change in EPS with the share price change. However, we can say we'd expect to see a falling share price in this scenario.

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

Before buying or selling a stock, we always recommend a close examination of historic growth trends, available here.

What About Dividends?

It is important to consider the total shareholder return, as well as the share price return, for any given stock. 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. Arguably, the TSR gives a more comprehensive picture of the return generated by a stock. We note that for Amir Marketing and Investments in Agriculture the TSR over the last 5 years was -35%, which is better than the share price return mentioned above. This is largely a result of its dividend payments!

A Different Perspective

While the broader market gained around 19% in the last year, Amir Marketing and Investments in Agriculture shareholders lost 4.7% (even including dividends). However, keep in mind that even the best stocks will sometimes underperform the market over a twelve month period. However, the loss over the last year isn't as bad as the 6% per annum loss investors have suffered over the last half decade. We'd need to see some sustained improvements in the key metrics before we could muster much enthusiasm. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Amir Marketing and Investments in Agriculture better, we need to consider many other factors. Even so, be aware that Amir Marketing and Investments in Agriculture is showing 3 warning signs in our investment analysis , and 1 of those is a bit unpleasant...

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 Israeli 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.