Mirae Asset Securities (KRX:006800) shareholders notch a 47% return over 1 year, yet earnings have been shrinking

The simplest way to invest in stocks is to buy exchange traded funds. But you can significantly boost your returns by picking above-average stocks. To wit, the Mirae Asset Securities Co., Ltd. (KRX:006800) share price is 44% higher than it was a year ago, much better than the market return of around 4.9% (not including dividends) in the same period. So that should have shareholders smiling. However, the longer term returns haven't been so impressive, with the stock up just 3.4% in the last three years.

Since the stock has added ₩182b 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 Mirae Asset Securities

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 the last twelve months, Mirae Asset Securities actually shrank its EPS by 73%.

This means it's unlikely the market is judging the company based on earnings growth. Therefore, it seems likely that investors are putting more weight on metrics other than EPS, at the moment.

We doubt the modest 1.7% dividend yield is doing much to support the share price. Revenue was pretty stable on last year, so deeper research might be needed to explain the share price rise.

The graphic below depicts how earnings and revenue have changed over time (unveil the exact values by clicking on the image).

Mirae Asset Securities is well known by investors, and plenty of clever analysts have tried to predict the future profit levels. You can see what analysts are predicting for Mirae Asset Securities in this interactive graph of future profit estimates.

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. Arguably, the TSR gives a more comprehensive picture of the return generated by a stock. In the case of Mirae Asset Securities, it has a TSR of 47% for the last 1 year. 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 nice to see that Mirae Asset Securities shareholders have received a total shareholder return of 47% over the last year. Of course, that includes the dividend. That gain is better than the annual TSR over five years, which is 7%. Therefore it seems like sentiment around the company has been positive lately. In the best case scenario, this may hint at some real business momentum, implying that now could be a great time to delve deeper. While it is well worth considering the different impacts that market conditions can have on the share price, there are other factors that are even more important. To that end, you should learn about the 4 warning signs we've spotted with Mirae Asset Securities (including 2 which shouldn't be ignored) .

For those who like to find winning investments this free list of undervalued companies with recent insider purchasing, could be just the ticket.

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