ASA International Group's (LON:ASAI) one-year earnings growth trails the 210% YoY shareholder returns

Unless you borrow money to invest, the potential losses are limited. On the other hand, if you find a high quality business to buy (at the right price) you can more than double your money! Take, for example ASA International Group PLC (LON:ASAI). Its share price is already up an impressive 189% in the last twelve months. Also pleasing for shareholders was the 62% gain in the last three months. Also impressive, the stock is up 113% over three years, making long term shareholders happy, too.

After a strong gain in the past week, it's worth seeing if longer term returns have been driven by improving fundamentals.

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While the efficient markets hypothesis continues to be taught by some, it has been proven that markets are over-reactive dynamic systems, and investors are not always rational. 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.

ASA International Group was able to grow EPS by 122% in the last twelve months. This EPS growth is significantly lower than the 189% increase in the share price. This indicates that the market is now more optimistic about the stock.

You can see below how EPS has changed over time (discover the exact values by clicking on the image).

It's probably worth noting that the CEO is paid less than the median at similar sized companies. It's always worth keeping an eye on CEO pay, but a more important question is whether the company will grow earnings throughout the years. It might be well worthwhile taking a look at our free report on ASA International Group'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 incorporates the value of any spin-offs or discounted capital raisings, along with any dividends, based on the assumption that the dividends are reinvested. It's fair to say that the TSR gives a more complete picture for stocks that pay a dividend. We note that for ASA International Group the TSR over the last 1 year was 210%, which is better than the share price return mentioned above. The dividends paid by the company have thusly boosted the total shareholder return.

A Different Perspective

It's nice to see that ASA International Group shareholders have received a total shareholder return of 210% over the last year. Of course, that includes the dividend. There's no doubt those recent returns are much better than the TSR loss of 0.7% per year over five years. We generally put more weight on the long term performance over the short term, but the recent improvement could hint at a (positive) inflection point within the 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. Even so, be aware that ASA International Group is showing 4 warning signs in our investment analysis , and 3 of those are significant...

We will like ASA International Group better if we see some big insider buys. While we wait, check out this free list of undervalued stocks (mostly small caps) with considerable, recent, insider buying.

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