Investing in Flex (NASDAQ:FLEX) five years ago would have delivered you a 224% gain

When you buy a stock there is always a possibility that it could drop 100%. But on the bright side, you can make far more than 100% on a really good stock. For example, the Flex Ltd. (NASDAQ:FLEX) share price has soared 224% in the last half decade. Most would be very happy with that.

So let's investigate and see if the longer term performance of the company has been in line with the underlying business' progress.

View our latest analysis for Flex

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 flawed but reasonable way to assess how sentiment around a company has changed is to compare the earnings per share (EPS) with the share price.

During five years of share price growth, Flex achieved compound earnings per share (EPS) growth of 26% per year. That makes the EPS growth particularly close to the yearly share price growth of 26%. That suggests that the market sentiment around the company hasn't changed much over that time. Rather, the share price has approximately tracked EPS growth.

You can see how EPS has changed over time in the image below (click on the chart to see the exact values).

It is of course excellent to see how Flex has grown profits over the years, but the future is more important for shareholders. Take a more thorough look at Flex's financial health with this free report on its balance sheet.

A Different Perspective

It's good to see that Flex has rewarded shareholders with a total shareholder return of 34% in the last twelve months. That's better than the annualised return of 26% over half a decade, implying that the company is doing better recently. In the best case scenario, this may hint at some real business momentum, implying that now could be a great time to delve deeper. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Flex better, we need to consider many other factors. For example, we've discovered 1 warning sign for Flex that you should be aware of before investing here.

If you like to buy stocks alongside management, then you might just love this free list of companies. (Hint: insiders have been buying them).

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

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. 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.