If You Had Bought Pkp Cargo's (WSE:PKP) Shares Three Years Ago You Would Be Down 77%

While not a mind-blowing move, it is good to see that the Pkp Cargo S.A. (WSE:PKP) share price has gained 26% in the last three months. But that is meagre solace in the face of the shocking decline over three years. In that time the share price has melted like a snowball in the desert, down 77%. So it sure is nice to see a bit of an improvement. The thing to think about is whether the business has really turned around.

Check out our latest analysis for Pkp Cargo

To paraphrase Benjamin Graham: Over the short term the market is a voting machine, but over the long term it's a weighing machine. 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.

Pkp Cargo saw its share price decline over the three years in which its EPS also dropped, falling to a loss. Due to the loss, it's not easy to use EPS as a reliable guide to the business. However, we can say we'd expect to see a falling share price in this scenario.

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

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

A Different Perspective

While the broader market gained around 0.9% in the last year, Pkp Cargo shareholders lost 24% (even including dividends). Even the share prices of good stocks drop sometimes, but we want to see improvements in the fundamental metrics of a business, before getting too interested. Regrettably, last year's performance caps off a bad run, with the shareholders facing a total loss of 11% per year over five years. Generally speaking long term share price weakness can be a bad sign, though contrarian investors might want to research the stock in hope of a turnaround. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Pkp Cargo better, we need to consider many other factors. Case in point: We've spotted 3 warning signs for Pkp Cargo you should be aware of, and 1 of them is a bit concerning.

Of course Pkp Cargo 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 PL 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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