Is SVB Financial Group's (NASDAQ:SIVB) Share Price Gain Of 118% Well Earned?

When you buy shares in a company, it's worth keeping in mind the possibility that it could fail, and you could lose your money. But on the bright side, if you buy shares in a high quality company at the right price, you can gain well over 100%. For instance, the price of SVB Financial Group (NASDAQ:SIVB) stock is up an impressive 118% over the last five years. On top of that, the share price is up 20% in about a quarter.

See our latest analysis for SVB Financial Group

While the efficient markets hypothesis continues to be taught by some, it has been proven that markets are over-reactive dynamic systems, and investors are not always rational. 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.

Over half a decade, SVB Financial Group managed to grow its earnings per share at 24% a year. The EPS growth is more impressive than the yearly share price gain of 17% over the same period. So one could conclude that the broader market has become more cautious towards the stock.

The image below shows how EPS has tracked over time (if you click on the image you can see greater detail).

earnings-per-share-growth
earnings-per-share-growth

It might be well worthwhile taking a look at our free report on SVB Financial Group's earnings, revenue and cash flow.

A Different Perspective

We're pleased to report that SVB Financial Group shareholders have received a total shareholder return of 34% over one year. That's better than the annualised return of 17% 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 SVB Financial Group better, we need to consider many other factors. To that end, you should be aware of the 1 warning sign we've spotted with SVB Financial Group .

If you like to buy stocks alongside management, then you might just love this free list of companies. (Hint: insiders have been buying them).

Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on US exchanges.

This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. 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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