If You Had Bought Hailiang Education Group (NASDAQ:HLG) Stock Five Years Ago, You Could Pocket A 491% Gain Today

We think all investors should try to buy and hold high quality multi-year winners. While the best companies are hard to find, but they can generate massive returns over long periods. Don't believe it? Then look at the Hailiang Education Group Inc. (NASDAQ:HLG) share price. It's 491% higher than it was five years ago. If that doesn't get you thinking about long term investing, we don't know what will. In contrast, the stock has fallen 9.1% in the last 30 days.

See our latest analysis for Hailiang Education Group

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.

During the last half decade, Hailiang Education Group became profitable. Sometimes, the start of profitability is a major inflection point that can signal fast earnings growth to come, which in turn justifies very strong share price gains.

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

It might be well worthwhile taking a look at our free report on Hailiang Education Group's earnings, revenue and cash flow.

A Different Perspective

Hailiang Education Group shareholders are down 19% for the year, but the market itself is up 26%. However, keep in mind that even the best stocks will sometimes underperform the market over a twelve month period. On the bright side, long term shareholders have made money, with a gain of 43% per year over half a decade. 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. Before deciding if you like the current share price, check how Hailiang Education Group scores on these 3 valuation metrics.

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. 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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