The simplest way to benefit from a rising market is to buy an index fund. When you buy individual stocks, you can make higher profits, but you also face the risk of under-performance. For example, the SATS Ltd. (SGX:S58) share price is down 39% in the last year. That’s well below the market decline of 17%. We note that it has not been easy for shareholders over three years, either; the share price is down 38% in that time. It’s down 2.0% in the last seven days.
View our latest analysis for SATS
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.
Unhappily, SATS had to report a 71% decline in EPS over the last year. The share price fall of 39% isn’t as bad as the reduction in earnings per share. So the market may not be too worried about the EPS figure, at the moment — or it may have expected earnings to drop faster. Indeed, with a P/E ratio of 46.25 there is obviously some real optimism that earnings will bounce back.
You can see how EPS has changed over time in the image below (click on the chart to see the exact values).
It’s probably worth noting we’ve seen significant insider buying in the last quarter, which we consider a positive. That said, we think earnings and revenue growth trends are even more important factors to consider. It might be well worthwhile taking a look at our free report on SATS’ earnings, revenue and cash flow.
What about the Total Shareholder Return (TSR)?
We’d be remiss not to mention the difference between SATS’ total shareholder return (TSR) and its share price return. The TSR is a return calculation that accounts for the value of cash dividends (assuming that any dividend received was reinvested) and the calculated value of any discounted capital raisings and spin-offs. Its history of dividend payouts mean that SATS’ TSR, which was a 39% drop over the last year, was not as bad as the share price return.
A Different Perspective
While the broader market lost about 17% in the twelve months, SATS shareholders did even worse, losing 39%. However, it could simply be that the share price has been impacted by broader market jitters. It might be worth keeping an eye on the fundamentals, in case there’s a good opportunity. Unfortunately, last year’s performance may indicate unresolved challenges, given that it was worse than the annualised loss of 2.6% over the last half decade. We realise that Baron Rothschild has said investors should “buy when there is blood on the streets”, but we caution that investors should first be sure they are buying a high quality business. 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. Consider for instance, the ever-present spectre of investment risk. We’ve identified 2 warning signs with SATS , and understanding them should be part of your investment process.
If you like to buy stocks alongside management, then you might just love this free list of companies. (Hint: insiders have been buying them).
Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on SG exchanges.
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