It's easy to match the overall market return by buying an index fund. While individual stocks can be big winners, plenty more fail to generate satisfactory returns. That downside risk was realized by Edgewell Personal Care Company (NYSE:EPC) shareholders over the last year, as the share price declined 17%. That falls noticeably short of the market return of around 17%. Longer term shareholders haven't suffered as badly, since the stock is down a comparatively less painful 12% in three years. Shareholders have had an even rougher run lately, with the share price down 17% in the last 90 days. This could be related to the recent financial results - you can catch up on the most recent data by reading our company report.

Now let's have a look at the company's fundamentals, and see if the long term shareholder return has matched the performance of the underlying business.

Check out our latest analysis for Edgewell Personal Care

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.

Unfortunately Edgewell Personal Care reported an EPS drop of 12% for the last year. This reduction in EPS is not as bad as the 17% share price fall. Unsurprisingly, given the lack of EPS growth, the market seems to be more cautious about the stock.

You can see below how EPS has changed over time (discover the exact values by clicking on the image).

This free interactive report on Edgewell Personal Care's earnings, revenue and cash flow is a great place to start, if you want to investigate the stock further.

A Different Perspective

While the broader market gained around 17% in the last year, Edgewell Personal Care shareholders lost 16% (even including dividends). Even the share prices of good stocks drop sometimes, but we want to see improvements in the fundamental metrics of a business, before getting too interested. Regrettably, last year's performance caps off a bad run, with the shareholders facing a total loss of 0.5% per year over five years. Generally speaking long term share price weakness can be a bad sign, though contrarian investors might want to research the stock in hope of a turnaround. 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. Case in point: We've spotted 3 warning signs for Edgewell Personal Care you should be aware of, and 1 of them is significant.

We will like Edgewell Personal Care better if we see some big insider buys. While we wait, check out this free list of undervalued stocks (mostly small caps) with considerable, recent, insider buying.

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.