United Bankers Oyj (HEL:UNIAV) Has Compensated Shareholders With A Respectable 81% Return On Their Investment

By buying an index fund, investors can approximate the average market return. But many of us dare to dream of bigger returns, and build a portfolio ourselves. For example, the United Bankers Oyj (HEL:UNIAV) share price is up 53% in the last three years, clearly besting the market return of around 7.8% (not including dividends). However, more recent returns haven't been as impressive as that, with the stock returning just 23% in the last year , including dividends .

View our latest analysis for United Bankers Oyj

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 way to examine how market sentiment has changed over time is to look at the interaction between a company's share price and its earnings per share (EPS).

During three years of share price growth, United Bankers Oyj achieved compound earnings per share growth of 58% per year. The average annual share price increase of 15% is actually lower than the EPS growth. So one could reasonably conclude that the market has cooled on the stock.

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

We know that United Bankers Oyj has improved its bottom line over the last three years, but what does the future have in store? Take a more thorough look at United Bankers Oyj's financial health with this free report on its balance sheet.

What About Dividends?

It is important to consider the total shareholder return, as well as the share price return, for any given stock. 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. We note that for United Bankers Oyj the TSR over the last 3 years was 81%, which is better than the share price return mentioned above. This is largely a result of its dividend payments!

A Different Perspective

It's good to see that United Bankers Oyj has rewarded shareholders with a total shareholder return of 23% in the last twelve months. Of course, that includes the dividend. Since the one-year TSR is better than the five-year TSR (the latter coming in at 8% per year), it would seem that the stock's performance has improved in recent times. Someone with an optimistic perspective could view the recent improvement in TSR as indicating that the business itself is getting better with time. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand United Bankers Oyj better, we need to consider many other factors. Take risks, for example - United Bankers Oyj has 1 warning sign we think you should be aware of.

But note: United Bankers Oyj may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies with past earnings growth (and further growth forecast).

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