If You Had Bought CrossFirst Bankshares' (NASDAQ:CFB) Shares A Year Ago You Would Be Down 24%

The simplest way to benefit from a rising market is to buy an index fund. But if you buy individual stocks, you can do both better or worse than that. Unfortunately the CrossFirst Bankshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CFB) share price slid 24% over twelve months. That's disappointing when you consider the market returned 23%. Because CrossFirst Bankshares hasn't been listed for many years, the market is still learning about how the business performs. There was little comfort for shareholders in the last week as the price declined a further 3.9%.

Check out our latest analysis for CrossFirst Bankshares

To quote Buffett, 'Ships will sail around the world but the Flat Earth Society will flourish. There will continue to be wide discrepancies between price and value in the marketplace...' 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.

Unhappily, CrossFirst Bankshares had to report a 85% decline in EPS over the last year. This fall in the EPS is significantly worse than the 24% the share price fall. So the market may not be too worried about the EPS figure, at the moment -- or it may have expected earnings to drop faster. With a P/E ratio of 77.72, it's fair to say the market sees an EPS rebound on the cards.

You can see below how EPS has changed over time (discover the exact values by clicking on the image).

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 CrossFirst Bankshares' earnings, revenue and cash flow.

A Different Perspective

While CrossFirst Bankshares shareholders are down 24% for the year, the market itself is up 23%. However, keep in mind that even the best stocks will sometimes underperform the market over a twelve month period. It's great to see a nice little 0.5% 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). While it is well worth considering the different impacts that market conditions can have on the share price, there are other factors that are even more important. Take risks, for example - CrossFirst Bankshares has 3 warning signs we think you should be aware of.

CrossFirst Bankshares 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.

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. 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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