Shareholders in Orora (ASX:ORA) are in the red if they invested three years ago

Yahoo

25-07-2025

While it may not be enough for some shareholders, we think it is good to see the Orora Limited (ASX:ORA) share price up 17% in a single quarter. But that doesn't help the fact that the three year return is less impressive. Truth be told the share price declined 40% in three years and that return, Dear Reader, falls short of what you could have got from passive investing with an index fund.
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.
We've found 21 US stocks that are forecast to pay a dividend yield of over 6% next year. See the full list for free.
To paraphrase Benjamin Graham: Over the short term the market is a voting machine, but over the long term it's a weighing machine. By comparing earnings per share (EPS) and share price changes over time, we can get a feel for how investor attitudes to a company have morphed over time.
Orora saw its EPS decline at a compound rate of 7.7% per year, over the last three years. This reduction in EPS is slower than the 15% annual reduction in the share price. So it seems the market was too confident about the business, in the past.
You can see how EPS has changed over time in the image below (click on the chart to see the exact values).
We like that insiders have been buying shares in the last twelve months. Even so, future earnings will be far more important to whether current shareholders make money. It might be well worthwhile taking a look at our free report on Orora's earnings, revenue and cash flow.
What About Dividends?
It is important to consider the total shareholder return, as well as the share price return, for any given stock. The TSR incorporates the value of any spin-offs or discounted capital raisings, along with any dividends, based on the assumption that the dividends are reinvested. Arguably, the TSR gives a more comprehensive picture of the return generated by a stock. In the case of Orora, it has a TSR of -26% for the last 3 years. That exceeds its share price return that we previously mentioned. This is largely a result of its dividend payments!
A Different Perspective
Orora shareholders are up 7.0% for the year (even including dividends). But that was short of the market average. On the bright side, that's still a gain, and it's actually better than the average return of 4% over half a decade It is possible that returns will improve along with the business fundamentals. I find it very interesting to look at share price over the long term as a proxy for business performance. But to truly gain insight, we need to consider other information, too. Case in point: We've spotted 2 warning signs for Orora you should be aware of, and 1 of them shouldn't be ignored.
Orora is not the only stock insiders are buying. So take a peek at this free list of small cap companies at attractive valuations which insiders have been buying.
Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on Australian exchanges.
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