Genesco Inc. (NYSE:GCO) shareholders should be happy to see the share price up 25% in the last quarter. But that doesn't help the fact that the three year return is less impressive. In fact, the share price is down 43% in the last three years, falling well short of the market return.

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

See our latest analysis for Genesco

In his essay The Superinvestors of Graham-and-Doddsville Warren Buffett described how share prices do not always rationally reflect the value of a business. 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.

We know that Genesco has been profitable in the past. However, it made a loss in the last twelve months, suggesting profit may be an unreliable metric at this stage. Other metrics might give us a better handle on how its value is changing over time.

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 graphic below depicts how earnings and revenue have changed over time (unveil the exact values by clicking on the image).

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

A Different Perspective

It's good to see that Genesco has rewarded shareholders with a total shareholder return of 30% in the last twelve months. That's better than the annualised return of 0.7% 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 Genesco better, we need to consider many other factors. Even so, be aware that Genesco is showing 2 warning signs in our investment analysis , and 1 of those is potentially serious...

For those who like to find winning investments this free list of undervalued companies with recent insider purchasing, could be just the ticket.

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.