Further weakness as Century Casinos (NASDAQ:CNTY) drops 18% this week, taking one-year losses to 37%

It's easy to match the overall market return by buying 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 Century Casinos, Inc. (NASDAQ:CNTY) share price is down 37% in the last year. That's disappointing when you consider the market declined 10%. At least the damage isn't so bad if you look at the last three years, since the stock is down 2.0% in that time. Shareholders have had an even rougher run lately, with the share price down 21% in the last 90 days. However, one could argue that the price has been influenced by the general market, which is down 14% in the same timeframe.

After losing 18% this past week, it's worth investigating the company's fundamentals to see what we can infer from past performance.

See our latest analysis for Century Casinos

While markets are a powerful pricing mechanism, share prices reflect investor sentiment, not just 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.

Century Casinos managed to increase earnings per share from a loss to a profit, over the last 12 months.

Earnings per share growth rates aren't particularly useful for comparing with the share price, when a company has moved from loss to profit. But we may find different metrics more enlightening.

Century Casinos' revenue is actually up 45% over the last year. Since we can't easily explain the share price movement based on these metrics, it might be worth considering how market sentiment has changed towards the stock.

You can see below how earnings and revenue have changed over time (discover the exact values by clicking on the image).

We're pleased to report that the CEO is remunerated more modestly than most CEOs at similarly capitalized companies. But while CEO remuneration is always worth checking, the really important question is whether the company can grow earnings going forward. This free report showing analyst forecasts should help you form a view on Century Casinos

A Different Perspective

We regret to report that Century Casinos shareholders are down 37% for the year. Unfortunately, that's worse than the broader market decline of 10%. 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. Longer term investors wouldn't be so upset, since they would have made 1.3%, each year, over five years. 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 Century Casinos better, we need to consider many other factors. Take risks, for example - Century Casinos has 2 warning signs (and 1 which is a bit concerning) we think you should know about.

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 US 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.