Shareholders Of Malteries Franco-Belges Société Anonyme (EPA:MALT) Must Be Happy With Their 228% Total Return

The most you can lose on any stock (assuming you don't use leverage) is 100% of your money. But when you pick a company that is really flourishing, you can make more than 100%. One great example is Malteries Franco-Belges Société Anonyme (EPA:MALT) which saw its share price drive 194% higher over five years. Also pleasing for shareholders was the 24% gain in the last three months. But this could be related to the strong market, which is up 18% in the last three months.

Check out our latest analysis for Malteries Franco-Belges Société Anonyme

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

Over half a decade, Malteries Franco-Belges Société Anonyme managed to grow its earnings per share at 13% a year. This EPS growth is lower than the 24% average annual increase in the share price. This suggests that market participants hold the company in higher regard, these days. That's not necessarily surprising considering the five-year track record of earnings growth.

The graphic below depicts how EPS has changed over time (unveil the exact values by clicking on the image).

Dive deeper into Malteries Franco-Belges Société Anonyme's key metrics by checking this interactive graph of Malteries Franco-Belges Société Anonyme's earnings, revenue and cash flow.

What About Dividends?

It is important to consider the total shareholder return, as well as the share price return, for any given stock. The TSR incorporates the value of any spin-offs or discounted capital raisings, along with any dividends, based on the assumption that the dividends are reinvested. So for companies that pay a generous dividend, the TSR is often a lot higher than the share price return. As it happens, Malteries Franco-Belges Société Anonyme's TSR for the last 5 years was 228%, which exceeds the share price return mentioned earlier. This is largely a result of its dividend payments!

A Different Perspective

It's nice to see that Malteries Franco-Belges Société Anonyme shareholders have received a total shareholder return of 26% over the last year. Of course, that includes the dividend. However, that falls short of the 27% TSR per annum it has made for shareholders, each year, over five years. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Malteries Franco-Belges Société Anonyme better, we need to consider many other factors. To that end, you should be aware of the 1 warning sign we've spotted with Malteries Franco-Belges Société Anonyme .

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