Yahoo Finance Shareholders in City Pub Group (LON:CPC) are in the red if they invested three years ago
The City Pub Group plc (LON:CPC) shareholders should be happy to see the share price up 10% in the last month. But that doesn't change the fact that the returns over the last three years have been disappointing. Indeed, the share price is down a tragic 58% in the last three years. So it is really good to see an improvement. Perhaps the company has turned over a new leaf.
So let's have a look and see if the longer term performance of the company has been in line with the underlying business' progress.
View our latest analysis for City Pub Group
City Pub Group wasn't profitable in the last twelve months, it is unlikely we'll see a strong correlation between its share price and its earnings per share (EPS). Arguably revenue is our next best option. When a company doesn't make profits, we'd generally expect to see good revenue growth. That's because fast revenue growth can be easily extrapolated to forecast profits, often of considerable size.
In the last three years City Pub Group saw its revenue shrink by 25% per year. That's definitely a weaker result than most pre-profit companies report. Arguably, the market has responded appropriately to this business performance by sending the share price down 16% (annualized) in the same time period. When revenue is dropping, and losses are still costing, and the share price sinking fast, it's fair to ask if something is remiss. It could be a while before the company repays long suffering shareholders with share price gains.
The company's revenue and earnings (over time) are depicted in the image below (click to see the exact numbers).
It's good to see that there was some significant insider buying in the last three months. That's a positive. On the other hand, we think the revenue and earnings trends are much more meaningful measures of the business. If you are thinking of buying or selling City Pub Group stock, you should check out this free report showing analyst profit forecasts.
A Different Perspective
City Pub Group shareholders are down 31% for the year, but the broader market is up 1.9%. Of course the long term matters more than the short term, and even great stocks will sometimes have a poor year. Shareholders have lost 16% per year over the last three years, so the share price drop has become steeper, over the last year; a potential symptom of as yet unsolved challenges. We would be wary of buying into a company with unsolved problems, although some investors will buy into struggling stocks if they believe the price is sufficiently attractive. If you want to research this stock further, the data on insider buying is an obvious place to start. You can click here to see who has been buying shares - and the price they paid.
There are plenty of other companies that have insiders buying up shares. You probably do 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 GB 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.
