What Are The Total Returns Earned By Shareholders Of Apator (WSE:APT) On Their Investment?

Apator S.A. (WSE:APT) shareholders should be happy to see the share price up 15% in the last quarter. But that doesn't change the fact that the returns over the last five years have been less than pleasing. After all, the share price is down 15% in that time, significantly under-performing the market.

View our latest analysis for Apator

In his essay The Superinvestors of Graham-and-Doddsville Warren Buffett described how share prices do not always rationally reflect the value of a business. 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.

During the five years over which the share price declined, Apator's earnings per share (EPS) dropped by 4.3% each year. The share price decline of 3% per year isn't as bad as the EPS decline. So the market may previously have expected a drop, or else it expects the situation will improve.

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

It might be well worthwhile taking a look at our free report on Apator'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 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. It's fair to say that the TSR gives a more complete picture for stocks that pay a dividend. We note that for Apator the TSR over the last 5 years was 6.6%, which is better than the share price return mentioned above. And there's no prize for guessing that the dividend payments largely explain the divergence!

A Different Perspective

It's good to see that Apator has rewarded shareholders with a total shareholder return of 17% in the last twelve months. And that does include the dividend. That's better than the annualised return of 1.3% over half a decade, implying that the company is doing better recently. 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 Apator better, we need to consider many other factors. Like risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 2 warning signs for Apator (of which 1 makes us a bit uncomfortable!) you should know about.

Of course Apator may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see this free collection of growth stocks.

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