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Easy Come, Easy Go: How PostNL (AMS:PNL) Shareholders Got Unlucky And Saw 75% Of Their Cash Evaporate

Statistically speaking, long term investing is a profitable endeavour. But no-one is immune from buying too high. For example the PostNL N.V. (AMS:PNL) share price dropped 75% over five years. That's not a lot of fun for true believers. And we doubt long term believers are the only worried holders, since the stock price has declined 52% over the last twelve months. The falls have accelerated recently, with the share price down 40% in the last three months. But this could be related to the weak market, which is down 24% in the same period.

Check out our latest analysis for PostNL

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 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.

Looking back five years, both PostNL's share price and EPS declined; the latter at a rate of 22% per year. Notably, the share price has fallen at 24% per year, fairly close to the change in the EPS. That suggests that the market sentiment around the company hasn't changed much over that time. Rather, the share price change has reflected changes in earnings per share.

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

ENXTAM:PNL Past and Future Earnings April 3rd 2020
ENXTAM:PNL Past and Future Earnings April 3rd 2020

This free interactive report on PostNL's earnings, revenue and cash flow is a great place to start, if you want to investigate the stock further.

What about the Total Shareholder Return (TSR)?

We've already covered PostNL's share price action, but we should also mention its total shareholder return (TSR). The TSR attempts to capture the value of dividends (as if they were reinvested) as well as any spin-offs or discounted capital raisings offered to shareholders. Its history of dividend payouts mean that PostNL's TSR, which was a 68% drop over the last 5 years, was not as bad as the share price return.

A Different Perspective

We regret to report that PostNL shareholders are down 45% for the year. Unfortunately, that's worse than the broader market decline of 19%. However, it could simply be that the share price has been impacted by broader market jitters. It might be worth keeping an eye on the fundamentals, in case there's a good opportunity. Regrettably, last year's performance caps off a bad run, with the shareholders facing a total loss of 20% per year over five years. Generally speaking long term share price weakness can be a bad sign, though contrarian investors might want to research the stock in hope of a turnaround. 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. For instance, we've identified 5 warning signs for PostNL that you should be aware of.

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 NL exchanges.

If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. 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. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned.

We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Thank you for reading.