The A2 Milk Company Ltd (ASX: A2M) share price has certainly given its investors a lot of ups and downs over the past few years. In fact, not too many ASX 200 shares could arguably have given investors as wild a ride as A2 Milk has.
Or, sad as it is to say, so much disappointment.
Backtrack a year or so, and A2 Milk was one of the most popular ASX 200 shares on the market.
It had given investors eye-watering returns for many years. That includes close to 3,500% for any investor lucky enough to bag some A2 Milk shares back in its April 2015 ASX IPO for roughly 50 cents each, and sell them at their $20 peak in July last year.
But the fall has been equally dramatic. A2 has spent the past 14 months falling off a cliff.
After touching $20 a share in July last year, A2 has been steadily sold off. It eventually found a bottom at the share price of $5.04 back in May. Since then, the company has recovered somewhat. But a poorly-received FY21 earnings report last month seemed to confirm a lot of investor fears, and the company is now decisively back under $6 a share.
So when was the best day ever for the A2 Milk share price? You might be thinking we'll have to back a while to find it.
When was the A2 Milk share price's best day ever?
It's hard to pinpoint exactly when A2 Milk had its best trading day ever, seeing as this company has been on the ASX boards for more than 6 years now.
But a leading contender would be 21 February 2018. On that day, A2 Milk had just reported its then-interim results. And it smashed expectations, bringing in a 70% increase in revenues and a 150% increase in profits after tax (sorry if you're an A2 Milk shareholder and this is a painful recollection of happier times).
As we reported at the time, investors sent A2 shares up a whopping 18% after these results were published. That could well be A2 Milk's single best day ever.
That's not to say A2 hasn't had some good days more recently too though. A more recent pop can be found just a few weeks ago. On 16 August, A2 shares rose 11% at one point after speculation arose that the company may be a takeover target of the global food and beverage titan Nestle.
Today, the A2 Milk share price is having a flat day so far. The company is currently sitting at $5.78 a share, right where it opened at this morning. The A2 share price remains down more than 50% year to date, and by 66.3% over the past 12 months. At the current A2 share price, the company has a market capitalisation of $4.3 billion.