Shareholders Of Power Grid Corporation of India (NSE:POWERGRID) Must Be Happy With Their 76% Return

When you buy and hold a stock for the long term, you definitely want it to provide a positive return. Better yet, you'd like to see the share price move up more than the market average. Unfortunately for shareholders, while the Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (NSE:POWERGRID) share price is up 44% in the last five years, that's less than the market return. Some buyers are laughing, though, with an increase of 27% in the last year.

View our latest analysis for Power Grid Corporation of India

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 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.

Over half a decade, Power Grid Corporation of India managed to grow its earnings per share at 15% a year. This EPS growth is higher than the 8% average annual increase in the share price. Therefore, it seems the market has become relatively pessimistic about the company. The reasonably low P/E ratio of 9.22 also suggests market apprehension.

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

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 Power Grid Corporation of India's earnings, revenue and cash flow.

What About Dividends?

When looking at investment returns, it is important to consider the difference between total shareholder return (TSR) and share price return. 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. Arguably, the TSR gives a more comprehensive picture of the return generated by a stock. As it happens, Power Grid Corporation of India's TSR for the last 5 years was 76%, which exceeds the share price return mentioned earlier. This is largely a result of its dividend payments!

A Different Perspective

Power Grid Corporation of India provided a TSR of 35% over the last twelve months. But that was short of the market average. The silver lining is that the gain was actually better than the average annual return of 12% per year over five year. It is possible that returns will improve along with the business fundamentals. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Power Grid Corporation of India better, we need to consider many other factors. For example, we've discovered 2 warning signs for Power Grid Corporation of India (1 can't be ignored!) that you should be aware of before investing here.

If you are like me, then you will not want to miss this free list of growing companies that insiders are buying.

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