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Investing in Qiagen (NYSE:QGEN) five years ago would have delivered you a 37% gain

When you buy and hold a stock for the long term, you definitely want it to provide a positive return. But more than that, you probably want to see it rise more than the market average. Unfortunately for shareholders, while the Qiagen N.V. (NYSE:QGEN) share price is up 37% in the last five years, that's less than the market return. The last year has been disappointing, with the stock price down 6.9% in that time.

So let's assess the underlying fundamentals over the last 5 years and see if they've moved in lock-step with shareholder returns.

View our latest analysis for Qiagen

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

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During the five years of share price growth, Qiagen moved from a loss to profitability. That's generally thought to be a genuine positive, so we would expect to see an increasing share price.

The company's earnings per share (over time) is depicted in the image below (click to see the exact numbers).

earnings-per-share-growth
earnings-per-share-growth

It's probably worth noting that the CEO is paid less than the median at similar sized companies. It's always worth keeping an eye on CEO pay, but a more important question is whether the company will grow earnings throughout the years. It might be well worthwhile taking a look at our free report on Qiagen's earnings, revenue and cash flow.

A Different Perspective

While it's certainly disappointing to see that Qiagen shares lost 6.9% throughout the year, that wasn't as bad as the market loss of 8.3%. Longer term investors wouldn't be so upset, since they would have made 6%, each year, over five years. It could be that the business is just facing some short term problems, but shareholders should keep a close eye on the fundamentals. Most investors take the time to check the data on insider transactions. You can click here to see if insiders have been buying or selling.

But note: Qiagen 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.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.

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.

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