Yahoo Finance The past year for BayFirst Financial (NASDAQ:BAFN) investors has not been profitable
BayFirst Financial Corp. (NASDAQ:BAFN) shareholders should be happy to see the share price up 15% in the last quarter. But that doesn't change the reality of under-performance over the last twelve months. In fact, the price has declined 31% in a year, falling short of the returns you could get by investing in an index fund.
Since shareholders are down over the longer term, lets look at the underlying fundamentals over the that time and see if they've been consistent with returns.
View our latest analysis for BayFirst Financial
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 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).
Unfortunately BayFirst Financial reported an EPS drop of 91% for the last year. The share price fall of 31% isn't as bad as the reduction in earnings per share. So the market may not be too worried about the EPS figure, at the moment -- or it may have expected earnings to drop faster.
The image below shows how EPS has tracked over time (if you click on the image you can see greater detail).
We consider it positive that insiders have made significant purchases in the last year. Even so, future earnings will be far more important to whether current shareholders make money. Dive deeper into the earnings by checking this interactive graph of BayFirst Financial's earnings, revenue and cash flow.
A Different Perspective
We doubt BayFirst Financial shareholders are happy with the loss of 30% over twelve months (even including dividends). That falls short of the market, which lost 12%. There's no doubt that's a disappointment, but the stock may well have fared better in a stronger market. It's great to see a nice little 15% rebound in the last three months. Let's just hope this isn't the widely-feared 'dead cat bounce' (which would indicate further declines to come). 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. Even so, be aware that BayFirst Financial is showing 5 warning signs in our investment analysis , and 1 of those is a bit concerning...
BayFirst Financial is not the only stock insiders are buying. So take a peek at this free list of growing companies with insider 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. 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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