How Much Did Semapa - Sociedade de Investimento e Gestão SGPS'(ELI:SEM) Shareholders Earn From Share Price Movements Over The Last Three Years?

This month, we saw the Semapa - Sociedade de Investimento e Gestão, SGPS, S.A. (ELI:SEM) up an impressive 36%. But that doesn't change the fact that the returns over the last three years have been less than pleasing. After all, the share price is down 35% in the last three years, significantly under-performing the market.

Check out our latest analysis for Semapa - Sociedade de Investimento e Gestão SGPS

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 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).

During the three years that the share price fell, Semapa - Sociedade de Investimento e Gestão SGPS' earnings per share (EPS) dropped by 4.6% each year. The share price decline of 13% is actually steeper than the EPS slippage. So it seems the market was too confident about the business, in the past. The less favorable sentiment is reflected in its current P/E ratio of 8.92.

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

This free interactive report on Semapa - Sociedade de Investimento e Gestão SGPS' earnings, revenue and cash flow is a great place to start, if you want to investigate the stock further.

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 Semapa - Sociedade de Investimento e Gestão SGPS the TSR over the last 3 years was -30%, which is better than the share price return mentioned above. This is largely a result of its dividend payments!

A Different Perspective

Semapa - Sociedade de Investimento e Gestão SGPS provided a TSR of 6.8% over the year (including dividends). That's fairly close to the broader market return. Most would be happy with a gain, and it helps that the year's return is actually better than the average return over five years, which was 4%. Even if the share price growth slows down from here, there's a good chance that this is business worth watching in the long term. 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. Like risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 3 warning signs for Semapa - Sociedade de Investimento e Gestão SGPS (of which 1 shouldn't be ignored!) you should know about.

If you like to buy stocks alongside management, then you might just love this free list of companies. (Hint: insiders have been buying them).

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