Investing in stocks inevitably means buying into some companies that perform poorly. But the last three years have been particularly tough on longer term Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. (NYSE:CRL) shareholders. Unfortunately, they have held through a 50% decline in the share price in that time. And over the last year the share price fell 21%, so we doubt many shareholders are delighted. Furthermore, it's down 13% in about a quarter. That's not much fun for holders.

After losing 5.4% this past week, it's worth investigating the company's fundamentals to see what we can infer from past performance.

View our latest analysis for Charles River Laboratories International

There is no denying that markets are sometimes efficient, but prices do not always reflect underlying business performance. 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, Charles River Laboratories International actually managed to grow EPS by 0.7% per year in that time. This is quite a puzzle, and suggests there might be something temporarily buoying the share price. 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. However, taking a look at other business metrics might shed a bit more light on the share price action.

We note that, in three years, revenue has actually grown at a 6.1% annual rate, so that doesn't seem to be a reason to sell shares. It's probably worth investigating Charles River Laboratories International further; while we may be missing something on this analysis, there might also be an opportunity.

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

Charles River Laboratories International is well known by investors, and plenty of clever analysts have tried to predict the future profit levels. Given we have quite a good number of analyst forecasts, it might be well worth checking out this free chart depicting consensus estimates.

A Different Perspective

While the broader market gained around 26% in the last year, Charles River Laboratories International shareholders lost 21%. However, keep in mind that even the best stocks will sometimes underperform the market over a twelve month period. Longer term investors wouldn't be so upset, since they would have made 4%, each year, over five years. If the fundamental data continues to indicate long term sustainable growth, the current sell-off could be an opportunity worth considering. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Charles River Laboratories International better, we need to consider many other factors. For example, we've discovered 2 warning signs for Charles River Laboratories International that you should be aware of before investing here.

Of course Charles River Laboratories International may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see this free collection of growth stocks.

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.