Yahoo Finance Investors Who Bought Qudian (NYSE:QD) Shares A Year Ago Are Now Down 80%
The art and science of stock market investing requires a tolerance for losing money on some of the shares you buy. But it's not unreasonable to try to avoid truly shocking capital losses. It must have been painful to be a Qudian Inc. (NYSE:QD) shareholder over the last year, since the stock price plummeted 80% in that time. That'd be a striking reminder about the importance of diversification. Qudian may have better days ahead, of course; we've only looked at a one year period. Shareholders have had an even rougher run lately, with the share price down 40% in the last 90 days. We note that the company has reported results fairly recently; and the market is hardly delighted. You can check out the latest numbers in our company report.
We really hope anyone holding through that price crash has a diversified portfolio. Even when you lose money, you don't have to lose the lesson.
View our latest analysis for Qudian
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 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 unfortunate twelve months during which the Qudian share price fell, it actually saw its earnings per share (EPS) improve by 50%. Of course, the situation might betray previous over-optimism about growth.
It's surprising to see the share price fall so much, despite the improved EPS. So it's well worth checking out some other metrics, too.
Qudian managed to grow revenue over the last year, which is usually a real positive. Since we can't easily explain the share price movement based on these metrics, it might be worth considering how market sentiment has changed towards the stock.
The company's revenue and earnings (over time) are depicted in the image below (click to see the exact numbers).
We know that Qudian has improved its bottom line lately, but what does the future have in store? You can see what analysts are predicting for Qudian in this interactive graph of future profit estimates.
A Different Perspective
We doubt Qudian shareholders are happy with the loss of 80% over twelve months. That falls short of the market, which lost 3.7%. That's disappointing, but it's worth keeping in mind that the market-wide selling wouldn't have helped. The share price decline has continued throughout the most recent three months, down 40%, suggesting an absence of enthusiasm from investors. Basically, most investors should be wary of buying into a poor-performing stock, unless the business itself has clearly improved. 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 example, we've discovered 3 warning signs for Qudian (1 doesn't sit too well with us!) that you should be aware of before investing here.
For those who like to find winning investments this free list of growing companies with recent insider purchasing, could be just the ticket.
Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on US 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.
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