Did You Miss AutoNation's (NYSE:AN) Impressive 265% Share Price Gain?

Unfortunately, investing is risky - companies can and do go bankrupt. But when you pick a company that is really flourishing, you can make more than 100%. For example, the AutoNation, Inc. (NYSE:AN) share price has soared 265% return in just a single year. On top of that, the share price is up 32% in about a quarter. Also impressive, the stock is up 93% over three years, making long term shareholders happy, too.

See our latest analysis for AutoNation

While markets are a powerful pricing mechanism, share prices reflect investor sentiment, not just underlying business performance. One way to examine how market sentiment has changed over time is to look at the interaction between a company's share price and its earnings per share (EPS).

During the last year, AutoNation actually saw its earnings per share drop 13%.

Given the share price gain, we doubt the market is measuring progress with EPS. Since the change in EPS doesn't seem to correlate with the change in share price, it's worth taking a look at other metrics.

AutoNation's revenue actually dropped 4.4% over last year. So using a snapshot of key business metrics doesn't give us a good picture of why the market is bidding up the stock.

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

AutoNation is well known by investors, and plenty of clever analysts have tried to predict the future profit levels. So we recommend checking out this free report showing consensus forecasts

A Different Perspective

It's good to see that AutoNation has rewarded shareholders with a total shareholder return of 265% in the last twelve months. That gain is better than the annual TSR over five years, which is 15%. Therefore it seems like sentiment around the company has been positive lately. Someone with an optimistic perspective could view the recent improvement in TSR as indicating that the business itself is getting better with time. 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. Consider risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 4 warning signs for AutoNation 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. 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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