Edgewell Personal Care (NYSE:EPC) Share Prices Have Dropped 58% In The Last Five Years

We think intelligent long term investing is the way to go. But no-one is immune from buying too high. For example the Edgewell Personal Care Company (NYSE:EPC) share price dropped 58% over five years. That's not a lot of fun for true believers. It's down 3.3% in the last seven days.

Check out our latest analysis for Edgewell Personal Care

In his essay The Superinvestors of Graham-and-Doddsville Warren Buffett described how share prices do not always rationally reflect the value of a business. 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 five years of share price growth, Edgewell Personal Care moved from a loss to profitability. That would generally be considered a positive, so we are surprised to see the share price is down. Other metrics might give us a better handle on how its value is changing over time.

The modest 1.8% dividend yield is unlikely to be guiding the market view of the stock. Arguably, the revenue drop of 3.7% a year for half a decade suggests that the company can't grow in the long term. This has probably encouraged some shareholders to sell down the stock.

The graphic below depicts how earnings and revenue have changed over time (unveil the exact values by clicking on the image).

We know that Edgewell Personal Care has improved its bottom line lately, but what does the future have in store? So we recommend checking out this free report showing consensus forecasts

A Different Perspective

Investors in Edgewell Personal Care had a tough year, with a total loss of 4.4% (including dividends), against a market gain of about 30%. However, keep in mind that even the best stocks will sometimes underperform the market over a twelve month period. Unfortunately, longer term shareholders are suffering worse, given the loss of 10% doled out over the last five years. We'd need to see some sustained improvements in the key metrics before we could muster much enthusiasm. 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. Take risks, for example - Edgewell Personal Care has 4 warning signs (and 1 which can't be ignored) we think you should know about.

But note: Edgewell Personal Care may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies with past earnings growth (and further growth forecast).

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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