Investing in stocks inevitably means buying into some companies that perform poorly. But the long term shareholders of TESSCO Technologies Incorporated (NASDAQ:TESS) have had an unfortunate run in the last three years. Sadly for them, the share price is down 56% in that time. There was little comfort for shareholders in the last week as the price declined a further 3.7%.
TESSCO Technologies wasn’t profitable in the last twelve months, it is unlikely we’ll see a strong correlation between its share price and its earnings per share (EPS). Arguably revenue is our next best option. Shareholders of unprofitable companies usually expect strong revenue growth. As you can imagine, fast revenue growth, when maintained, often leads to fast profit growth.
Over the last three years, TESSCO Technologies’ revenue dropped 5.4% per year. That’s not what investors generally want to see. With revenue in decline, and profit but a dream, we can understand why the share price has been declining at 16% per year. Having said that, if growth is coming in the future, now may be the low ebb for the company. We’d be pretty wary of this one until it makes a profit, because we don’t specialize in finding turnaround situations.
You can see below how earnings and revenue have changed over time (discover the exact values by clicking on the image).
What about the Total Shareholder Return (TSR)?
Investors should note that there’s a difference between TESSCO Technologies’ total shareholder return (TSR) and its share price change, which we’ve covered above. The TSR is a return calculation that accounts for the value of cash dividends (assuming that any dividend received was reinvested) and the calculated value of any discounted capital raisings and spin-offs. TESSCO Technologies’ TSR of was a loss of 52% for the 3 years. That wasn’t as bad as its share price return, because it has paid dividends.
A Different Perspective
TESSCO Technologies shareholders gained a total return of 28% during the year. Unfortunately this falls short of the market return. But at least that’s still a gain! Over five years the TSR has been a reduction of 7% per year, over five years. It could well be that the business is stabilizing. While it is well worth considering the different impacts that market conditions can have on the share price, there are other factors that are even more important.