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%. One great example is Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) which saw its share price drive 103% higher over five years. In more good news, the share price has risen 8.5% in thirty days.

Since it's been a strong week for Booking Holdings shareholders, let's have a look at trend of the longer term fundamentals.

View our latest analysis for Booking Holdings

There is no denying that markets are sometimes efficient, but prices do not always reflect underlying business performance. 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 five years of share price growth, Booking Holdings achieved compound earnings per share (EPS) growth of 10% per year. This EPS growth is lower than the 15% average annual increase in the share price. This suggests that market participants hold the company in higher regard, these days. And that's hardly shocking given the track record of growth.

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

We know that Booking Holdings has improved its bottom line over the last three years, but what does the future have in store? This free interactive report on Booking Holdings' balance sheet strength is a great place to start, if you want to investigate the stock further.

A Different Perspective

Booking Holdings shareholders have received returns of 33% over twelve months (even including dividends), which isn't far from the general market return. Most would be happy with a gain, and it helps that the year's return is actually better than the average return over five years, which was 15%. Even if the share price growth slows down from here, there's a good chance that this is business worth watching in the long term. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Booking Holdings better, we need to consider many other factors. To that end, you should be aware of the 2 warning signs we've spotted with Booking Holdings .

Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking elsewhere. So take a peek at this free list of companies we expect will grow earnings.

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.