Introducing Pitney Bowes (NYSE:PBI), A Stock That Climbed 95% In The Last Year

NYSE:PBI) share price is up 95% in the last year, clearly besting the market return of around 17% (not including dividends). That’s a solid performance by our standards! In contrast, the longer term returns are negative, since the share price is 45% lower than it was three years ago.” data-reactid=”28″>These days it’s easy to simply buy an index fund, and your returns should (roughly) match the market. But investors can boost returns by picking market-beating companies to own shares in. For example, the Pitney Bowes Inc. (NYSE:PBI) share price is up 95% in the last year, clearly besting the market return of around 17% (not including dividends). That’s a solid performance by our standards! In contrast, the longer term returns are negative, since the share price is 45% lower than it was three years ago.

View our latest analysis for Pitney Bowes ” data-reactid=”29″>View our latest analysis for Pitney Bowes

There is no denying that markets are sometimes efficient, but prices do not always reflect underlying business performance. 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).

During the last year Pitney Bowes saw its earnings per share (EPS) drop below zero. While some may see this as temporary, we’re a skeptical bunch, and so we’re a little surprised to see the share price go up. We might get a clue to explain the share price move by looking to other metrics.

Revenue was pretty flat year on year, but maybe a closer look at the data can explain the market optimism.

You can see how earnings and revenue have changed over time in the image below (click on the chart to see the exact values).

report showing analyst forecasts should help you form a view on Pitney Bowes” data-reactid=”50″>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. This free report showing analyst forecasts should help you form a view on Pitney Bowes

What About Dividends?

As well as measuring the share price return, investors should also consider the total shareholder return (TSR). The TSR incorporates the value of any spin-offs or discounted capital raisings, along with any dividends, based on the assumption that the dividends are reinvested. Arguably, the TSR gives a more comprehensive picture of the return generated by a stock. As it happens, Pitney Bowes’ TSR for the last year was 107%, which exceeds the share price return mentioned earlier. And there’s no prize for guessing that the dividend payments largely explain the divergence!

A Different Perspective

3 warning signs we’ve spotted with Pitney Bowes (including 1 which is makes us a bit uncomfortable) .” data-reactid=”54″>It’s nice to see that Pitney Bowes shareholders have received a total shareholder return of 107% over the last year. And that does include the dividend. There’s no doubt those recent returns are much better than the TSR loss of 9.4% per year over five years. We generally put more weight on the long term performance over the short term, but the recent improvement could hint at a (positive) inflection point within the business. It’s always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Pitney Bowes better, we need to consider many other factors. To that end, you should learn about the 3 warning signs we’ve spotted with Pitney Bowes (including 1 which is makes us a bit uncomfortable) .

list of growing companies that insiders are buying.” data-reactid=”55″>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.

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