Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (NYSE:APC)

The financial data reveals several notable trends concerning the share price, earnings per share (EPS), and price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio over the indicated periods.

Share Price

The share price exhibited considerable volatility across the years. It started at $51.04 in early 2006, declined to a low of $35.54 in early 2009, and then experienced a general upward trend, reaching a peak of $85.74 in early 2012. Following this peak, the price stabilized somewhat in the mid-$80 range until early 2015, when it dropped sharply to $40.50. By early 2017, the share price rebounded to $66.77, indicating partial recovery after the decline.

Earnings per Share (EPS)

EPS demonstrated significant fluctuations and a generally deteriorating trend over the period. Starting at $5.35 in 2006, EPS peaked at $10.48 in 2007 before gradually declining. Notably, negative EPS values were observed in several years: -$0.27 in 2010, -$5.31 in 2012, and worsening to -$13.16 by 2016, followed by a slight improvement to -$5.49 in 2017. The intermittent positive values amidst negative results suggest periods of operational difficulty impacting profitability.

Price-to-Earnings (P/E) Ratio

The P/E ratio, where available, showed substantial variation reflecting the volatility of earnings relative to share price. The ratio was relatively low at 9.54 in 2006 and reached a trough of 3.85 in 2007, indicating higher earnings relative to price at that time. In later years, the P/E ratio spiked notably, with figures such as 51.95 in 2011 and 52.93 in 2014, which coincided with low or negative EPS values — a sign of either market optimism despite poor earnings or earnings temporarily skewing the ratio upward. Several years have missing P/E data, likely due to negative earnings making the ratio undefined or less meaningful.

In summary, the share price reflected market volatility with an overall upward tendency until 2012, followed by a sharp decline and subsequent partial recovery by 2017. EPS trends indicate worsening profitability with recurring negative periods, while the P/E ratio's irregular behavior underscores the challenges in valuation during volatile earnings periods.