MONETA Money Bank's (SEP:MONET) five-year earnings growth trails the decent shareholder returns

When you buy and hold a stock for the long term, you definitely want it to provide a positive return. Furthermore, you'd generally like to see the share price rise faster than the market. Unfortunately for shareholders, while the MONETA Money Bank, a.s. (SEP:MONET) share price is up 28% in the last five years, that's less than the market return. Over the last twelve months the stock price has risen a very respectable 17%.

Since the stock has added Kč1.7b to its market cap in the past week alone, let's see if underlying performance has been driving long-term returns.

View our latest analysis for MONETA Money Bank

While markets are a powerful pricing mechanism, share prices reflect investor sentiment, not just underlying business performance. By comparing earnings per share (EPS) and share price changes over time, we can get a feel for how investor attitudes to a company have morphed over time.

Over half a decade, MONETA Money Bank managed to grow its earnings per share at 4.4% a year. So the EPS growth rate is rather close to the annualized share price gain of 5% per year. This indicates that investor sentiment towards the company has not changed a great deal. In fact, the share price seems to largely reflect the EPS growth.

You can see how EPS has changed over time in the image below (click on the chart to see the exact values).

Dive deeper into MONETA Money Bank's key metrics by checking this interactive graph of MONETA Money Bank's earnings, revenue and cash flow.

What About Dividends?

As well as measuring the share price return, investors should also consider the total shareholder return (TSR). 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. It's fair to say that the TSR gives a more complete picture for stocks that pay a dividend. In the case of MONETA Money Bank, it has a TSR of 78% for the last 5 years. That exceeds its share price return that we previously mentioned. And there's no prize for guessing that the dividend payments largely explain the divergence!

A Different Perspective

It's good to see that MONETA Money Bank has rewarded shareholders with a total shareholder return of 29% in the last twelve months. And that does include the dividend. Since the one-year TSR is better than the five-year TSR (the latter coming in at 12% per year), it would seem that the stock's performance has improved in recent times. Given the share price momentum remains strong, it might be worth taking a closer look at the stock, lest you miss an opportunity. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand MONETA Money Bank better, we need to consider many other factors. Take risks, for example - MONETA Money Bank has 1 warning sign we think you should be aware of.

Of course MONETA Money Bank may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see this free collection of growth stocks.

Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on Czech 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.