Long term investing can be life changing when you buy and hold the truly great businesses. While the best companies are hard to find, but they can generate massive returns over long periods. Don't believe it? Then look at the TG Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:TGTX) share price. It's 357% higher than it was five years ago. And this is just one example of the epic gains achieved by some long term investors. Also pleasing for shareholders was the 30% gain in the last three months.

So let's investigate and see if the longer term performance of the company has been in line with the underlying business' progress.

To paraphrase Benjamin Graham: Over the short term the market is a voting machine, but over the long term it's a weighing machine. One way to examine how market sentiment has changed over time is to look at the interaction between a company's share price and its earnings per share (EPS).

During the last half decade, TG Therapeutics became profitable. Sometimes, the start of profitability is a major inflection point that can signal fast earnings growth to come, which in turn justifies very strong share price gains.

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

It is of course excellent to see how TG Therapeutics has grown profits over the years, but the future is more important for shareholders. This free interactive report on TG Therapeutics' balance sheet strength is a great place to start, if you want to investigate the stock further.

A Different Perspective

It's nice to see that TG Therapeutics shareholders have received a total shareholder return of 192% over the last year. That's better than the annualised return of 36% over half a decade, implying that the company is doing better recently. Given the share price momentum remains strong, it might be worth taking a closer look at the stock, lest you miss an opportunity. If you would like to research TG Therapeutics in more detail then you might want to take a look at whether insiders have been buying or selling shares in the company.

Of course TG Therapeutics may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see this free collection of growth stocks.

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.