Shareholders in JDE Peet's (AMS:JDEP) are in the red if they invested a year ago

The simplest way to benefit from a rising market is to buy an index fund. When you buy individual stocks, you can make higher profits, but you also face the risk of under-performance. For example, the JDE Peet's N.V. (AMS:JDEP) share price is down 20% in the last year. That falls noticeably short of the market return of around 32%. We wouldn't rush to judgement on JDE Peet's because we don't have a long term history to look at. The falls have accelerated recently, with the share price down 12% in the last three months.

Since shareholders are down over the longer term, lets look at the underlying fundamentals over the that time and see if they've been consistent with returns.

Check out our latest analysis for JDE Peet's

While the efficient markets hypothesis continues to be taught by some, it has been proven that markets are over-reactive dynamic systems, and investors are not always rational. 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.

Unhappily, JDE Peet's had to report a 57% decline in EPS over the last year. This fall in the EPS is significantly worse than the 20% the share price fall. It may have been that the weak EPS was not as bad as some had feared.

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

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

A Different Perspective

Given that the market gained 32% in the last year, JDE Peet's shareholders might be miffed that they lost 19% (even including dividends). However, keep in mind that even the best stocks will sometimes underperform the market over a twelve month period. The share price decline has continued throughout the most recent three months, down 12%, suggesting an absence of enthusiasm from investors. Basically, most investors should be wary of buying into a poor-performing stock, unless the business itself has clearly improved. I find it very interesting to look at share price over the long term as a proxy for business performance. But to truly gain insight, we need to consider other information, too. To that end, you should be aware of the 2 warning signs we've spotted with JDE Peet's .

If you like to buy stocks alongside management, then you might just love this free list of companies. (Hint: insiders have been buying them).

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

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.

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