Did You Participate In Any Of Woolworths Group's (ASX:WOW) Fantastic 125% Return ?

When we invest, we're generally looking for stocks that outperform the market average. And the truth is, you can make significant gains if you buy good quality businesses at the right price. For example, the Woolworths Group Limited (ASX:WOW) share price is up 93% in the last 5 years, clearly besting the market return of around 31% (ignoring dividends). However, more recent returns haven't been as impressive as that, with the stock returning just 16% in the last year , including dividends .

View our latest analysis for Woolworths Group

While markets are a powerful pricing mechanism, share prices reflect investor sentiment, not just underlying business performance. 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.

During five years of share price growth, Woolworths Group actually saw its EPS drop 15% per year.

This means it's unlikely the market is judging the company based on earnings growth. Because earnings per share don't seem to match up with the share price, we'll take a look at other metrics instead.

On the other hand, Woolworths Group's revenue is growing nicely, at a compound rate of 4.3% over the last five years. In that case, the company may be sacrificing current earnings per share to drive growth.

The image below shows how earnings and revenue have tracked over time (if you click on the image you can see greater detail).

Woolworths Group is well known by investors, and plenty of clever analysts have tried to predict the future profit levels. So it makes a lot of sense to check out what analysts think Woolworths Group will earn in the future (free analyst consensus estimates)

What About Dividends?

When looking at investment returns, it is important to consider the difference between total shareholder return (TSR) and share price return. Whereas the share price return only reflects the change in the share price, the TSR includes the value of dividends (assuming they were reinvested) and the benefit of any discounted capital raising or spin-off. It's fair to say that the TSR gives a more complete picture for stocks that pay a dividend. As it happens, Woolworths Group's TSR for the last 5 years was 125%, which exceeds the share price return mentioned earlier. This is largely a result of its dividend payments!

A Different Perspective

Woolworths Group shareholders are up 16% for the year (even including dividends). But that was short of the market average. If we look back over five years, the returns are even better, coming in at 18% per year for five years. It's quite possible the business continues to execute with prowess, even as the share price gains are slowing. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Woolworths Group better, we need to consider many other factors. Take risks, for example - Woolworths Group has 2 warning signs we think you should be aware of.

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 AU exchanges.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. 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.
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