Yahoo Finance Koninklijke Vopak (AMS:VPK) investors are sitting on a loss of 35% if they invested three years ago
Koninklijke Vopak N.V. (AMS:VPK) shareholders should be happy to see the share price up 30% in the last quarter. But that doesn't help the fact that the three year return is less impressive. After all, the share price is down 41% in the last three years, significantly under-performing the market.
With that in mind, it's worth seeing if the company's underlying fundamentals have been the driver of long term performance, or if there are some discrepancies.
View our latest analysis for Koninklijke Vopak
There is no denying that markets are sometimes efficient, but prices do not always reflect underlying business performance. One imperfect but simple way to consider how the market perception of a company has shifted is to compare the change in the earnings per share (EPS) with the share price movement.
Koninklijke Vopak saw its share price decline over the three years in which its EPS also dropped, falling to a loss. Extraordinary items contributed to this situation. Since the company has fallen to a loss making position, it's hard to compare the change in EPS with the share price change. However, we can say we'd expect to see a falling share price in this scenario.
The image below shows how EPS has tracked over time (if you click on the image you can see greater detail).
Before buying or selling a stock, we always recommend a close examination of historic growth trends, available here.
What About Dividends?
As well as measuring the share price return, investors should also consider the total shareholder return (TSR). The TSR is a return calculation that accounts for the value of cash dividends (assuming that any dividend received was reinvested) and the calculated value of any discounted capital raisings and spin-offs. So for companies that pay a generous dividend, the TSR is often a lot higher than the share price return. In the case of Koninklijke Vopak, it has a TSR of -35% for the last 3 years. That exceeds its share price return that we previously mentioned. This is largely a result of its dividend payments!
A Different Perspective
While it's certainly disappointing to see that Koninklijke Vopak shares lost 1.4% throughout the year, that wasn't as bad as the market loss of 9.9%. Of far more concern is the 1.9% p.a. loss served to shareholders over the last five years. This sort of share price action isn't particularly encouraging, but at least the losses are slowing. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Koninklijke Vopak better, we need to consider many other factors. Take risks, for example - Koninklijke Vopak has 2 warning signs (and 1 which is a bit unpleasant) we think you should know about.
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Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on NL 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.
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