How Much Have Talisman Mining (ASX:TLM) Shareholders Earned On Their Investment Over The Last Five Years?

In order to justify the effort of selecting individual stocks, it's worth striving to beat the returns from a market index fund. But every investor is virtually certain to have both over-performing and under-performing stocks. At this point some shareholders may be questioning their investment in Talisman Mining Limited (ASX:TLM), since the last five years saw the share price fall 71%. Unhappily, the share price slid 4.3% in the last week.

See our latest analysis for Talisman Mining

With just AU$305,000 worth of revenue in twelve months, we don't think the market considers Talisman Mining to have proven its business plan. We can't help wondering why it's publicly listed so early in its journey. Are venture capitalists not interested? So it seems that the investors focused more on what could be, than paying attention to the current revenues (or lack thereof). For example, investors may be hoping that Talisman Mining finds some valuable resources, before it runs out of money.

We think companies that have neither significant revenues nor profits are pretty high risk. You should be aware that there is always a chance that this sort of company will need to issue more shares to raise money to continue pursuing its business plan. While some such companies go on to make revenue, profits, and generate value, others get hyped up by hopeful naifs before eventually going bankrupt. Talisman Mining has already given some investors a taste of the bitter losses that high risk investing can cause.

Talisman Mining had cash in excess of all liabilities of AU$15m when it last reported (December 2019). While that's nothing to panic about, there is some possibility the company will raise more capital, especially if profits are not imminent. We'd venture that shareholders are concerned about the need for more capital, because the share price has dropped 11% per year, over 5 years. You can click on the image below to see (in greater detail) how Talisman Mining's cash levels have changed over time.

Of course, the truth is that it is hard to value companies without much revenue or profit. What if insiders are ditching the stock hand over fist? It would bother me, that's for sure. It costs nothing but a moment of your time to see if we are picking up on any insider selling.

What about the Total Shareholder Return (TSR)?

We'd be remiss not to mention the difference between Talisman Mining's total shareholder return (TSR) and its share price return. 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. Talisman Mining hasn't been paying dividends, but its TSR of 14% exceeds its share price return of -71%, implying it has either spun-off a business, or raised capital at a discount; thereby providing additional value to shareholders.

A Different Perspective

It's good to see that Talisman Mining has rewarded shareholders with a total shareholder return of 12% in the last twelve months. Since the one-year TSR is better than the five-year TSR (the latter coming in at 2.7% per year), it would seem that the stock's performance has improved in recent times. Given the share price momentum remains strong, it might be worth taking a closer look at the stock, lest you miss an opportunity. 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 Talisman Mining is showing 5 warning signs in our investment analysis , and 2 of those are significant...

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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 AU 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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