While CoreCivic, Inc. (NYSE:CXW) shareholders are probably generally happy, the stock hasn't had particularly good run recently, with the share price falling 16% in the last quarter. But over three years, the returns would have left most investors smiling To wit, the share price did better than an index fund, climbing 43% during that period.

Since the long term performance has been good but there's been a recent pullback of 4.9%, let's check if the fundamentals match the share price.

To quote Buffett, 'Ships will sail around the world but the Flat Earth Society will flourish. There will continue to be wide discrepancies between price and value in the marketplace...' 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.

CoreCivic became profitable within the last three years. So we would expect a higher share price over the period.

The company's earnings per share (over time) is depicted in the image below (click to see the exact numbers).

We know that CoreCivic has improved its bottom line over the last three years, but what does the future have in store? If you are thinking of buying or selling CoreCivic stock, you should check out this FREE detailed report on its balance sheet.

A Different Perspective

CoreCivic provided a TSR of 24% over the year. That's fairly close to the broader market return. The silver lining is that the share price is up in the short term, which flies in the face of the annualised loss of 4% over the last five years. While 'turnarounds seldom turn' there are green shoots for CoreCivic. I find it very interesting to look at share price over the long term as a proxy for business performance. But to truly gain insight, we need to consider other information, too. Even so, be aware that CoreCivic is showing 5 warning signs in our investment analysis , and 2 of those are a bit concerning...

We will like CoreCivic better if we see some big insider buys. While we wait, check out this free list of undervalued stocks (mostly small caps) with considerable, recent, insider 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.