WEBULL

As Future (LON:FUTR) ascends 5.3% this past week, investors may now be noticing the company's three-year earnings growth

Simply Wall St · 07/28 10:24

If you love investing in stocks you're bound to buy some losers. Long term Future plc (LON:FUTR) shareholders know that all too well, since the share price is down considerably over three years. Sadly for them, the share price is down 58% in that time. And more recent buyers are having a tough time too, with a drop of 31% in the last year.

Although the past week has been more reassuring for shareholders, they're still in the red over the last three years, so let's see if the underlying business has been responsible for the decline.

We've found 21 US stocks that are forecast to pay a dividend yield of over 6% next year. See the full list for free.

To paraphrase Benjamin Graham: Over the short term the market is a voting machine, but over the long term it's a weighing machine. 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.

Although the share price is down over three years, Future actually managed to grow EPS by 4.8% per year in that time. Given the share price reaction, one might suspect that EPS is not a good guide to the business performance during the period (perhaps due to a one-off loss or gain). Or else the company was over-hyped in the past, and so its growth has disappointed.

It's pretty reasonable to suspect the market was previously to bullish on the stock, and has since moderated expectations. But it's possible a look at other metrics will be enlightening.

The modest 0.5% dividend yield is unlikely to be guiding the market view of the stock. With revenue flat over three years, it seems unlikely that the share price is reflecting the top line. There doesn't seem to be any clear correlation between the fundamental business metrics and the share price. That could mean that the stock was previously overrated, or it could spell opportunity now.

The company's revenue and earnings (over time) are depicted in the image below (click to see the exact numbers).

earnings-and-revenue-growth
LSE:FUTR Earnings and Revenue Growth July 28th 2025

This free interactive report on Future's balance sheet strength is a great place to start, if you want to investigate the stock further.

A Different Perspective

While the broader market gained around 11% in the last year, Future shareholders lost 31% (even including dividends). However, keep in mind that even the best stocks will sometimes underperform the market over a twelve month period. Regrettably, last year's performance caps off a bad run, with the shareholders facing a total loss of 8% per year over five years. We realise that Baron Rothschild has said investors should "buy when there is blood on the streets", but we caution that investors should first be sure they are buying a high quality business. Before deciding if you like the current share price, check how Future scores on these 3 valuation metrics.

If you would prefer to check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss this free list of companies that have proven they can grow earnings.

Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on British exchanges.