Generally speaking, investors are inspired to be stock pickers by the potential to find the big winners. You won't get it right every time, but when you do, the returns can be truly splendid. For example, the SilverBow Resources, Inc. (NYSE:SBOW) share price is up a whopping 667% in the last three years, a handsome return for long term holders. It's also up 9.6% in about a month. We note that SilverBow Resources reported its financial results recently; luckily, you can catch up on the latest revenue and profit numbers in our company report. Anyone who held for that rewarding ride would probably be keen to talk about it.

After a strong gain in the past week, it's worth seeing if longer term returns have been driven by improving fundamentals.

See our latest analysis for SilverBow Resources

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 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.

During three years of share price growth, SilverBow Resources moved from a loss to profitability. That kind of transition can be an inflection point that justifies a strong share price gain, just as we have seen here.

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

It's probably worth noting we've seen significant insider buying in the last quarter, which we consider a positive. On the other hand, we think the revenue and earnings trends are much more meaningful measures of the business. Before buying or selling a stock, we always recommend a close examination of historic growth trends, available here..

A Different Perspective

SilverBow Resources shareholders gained a total return of 2.7% during the year. Unfortunately this falls short of the market return. On the bright side, the longer term returns (running at about 4% a year, over half a decade) look better. Maybe the share price is just taking a breather while the business executes on its growth strategy. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand SilverBow Resources better, we need to consider many other factors. For instance, we've identified 3 warning signs for SilverBow Resources (1 is significant) that you should be aware of.

There are plenty of other companies that have insiders buying up shares. You probably do not want to miss this free list of growing companies that insiders are 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.