Statistically speaking, long term investing is a profitable endeavour. But unfortunately, some companies simply don’t succeed. To wit, the Clover Corporation Limited (ASX:CLV) share price managed to fall 72% over five long years. We certainly feel for shareholders who bought near the top.
Since shareholders are down over the longer term, lets look at the underlying fundamentals over the that time and see if they’ve been consistent with returns.
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While markets are a powerful pricing mechanism, share prices reflect investor sentiment, not just underlying business performance. 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.
Looking back five years, both Clover’s share price and EPS declined; the latter at a rate of 15% per year. This reduction in EPS is less than the 22% annual reduction in the share price. This implies that the market is more cautious about the business these days.
You can see how EPS has changed over time in the image below (click on the chart to see the exact values).
ASX:CLV Earnings Per Share Growth September 22nd 2025
We know that Clover has improved its bottom line lately, but is it going to grow revenue? Check if analysts think Clover will grow revenue in the future.
As well as measuring the share price return, investors should also consider the total shareholder return (TSR). Whereas the share price return only reflects the change in the share price, the TSR includes the value of dividends (assuming they were reinvested) and the benefit of any discounted capital raising or spin-off. It’s fair to say that the TSR gives a more complete picture for stocks that pay a dividend. We note that for Clover the TSR over the last 5 years was -70%, which is better than the share price return mentioned above. The dividends paid by the company have thusly boosted the total shareholder return.
It’s nice to see that Clover shareholders have received a total shareholder return of 67% over the last year. That’s including the dividend. Notably the five-year annualised TSR loss of 11% per year compares very unfavourably with the recent share price performance. We generally put more weight on the long term performance over the short term, but the recent improvement could hint at a (positive) inflection point within the business. It’s always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Clover better, we need to consider many other factors. Consider for instance, the ever-present spectre of investment risk. We’ve identified 2 warning signs with Clover , and understanding them should be part of your investment process.
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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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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.
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