Did You Participate In Any Of Union Insurance's (TPE:2816) Respectable 77% Return?

The main point of investing for the long term is to make money. But more than that, you probably want to see it rise more than the market average. Unfortunately for shareholders, while the Union Insurance Co., Ltd. (TPE:2816) share price is up 54% in the last five years, that's less than the market return. Some buyers are laughing, though, with an increase of 35% in the last year.

Check out our latest analysis for Union Insurance

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, Union Insurance managed to grow its earnings per share at 23% a year. This EPS growth is higher than the 9% average annual increase in the share price. So it seems the market isn't so enthusiastic about the stock these days. The reasonably low P/E ratio of 7.07 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).

Before buying or selling a stock, we always recommend a close examination of historic growth trends, available here.

What About Dividends?

As well as measuring the share price return, investors should also consider the total shareholder return (TSR). Whereas the share price return only reflects the change in the share price, the TSR includes the value of dividends (assuming they were reinvested) and the benefit of any discounted capital raising or spin-off. It's fair to say that the TSR gives a more complete picture for stocks that pay a dividend. In the case of Union Insurance, it has a TSR of 77% for the last 5 years. That exceeds its share price return that we previously mentioned. The dividends paid by the company have thusly boosted the total shareholder return.

A Different Perspective

Union Insurance shareholders gained a total return of 41% during the year. But that return falls short of the market. The silver lining is that the gain was actually better than the average annual return of 12% per year over five year. This suggests the company might be improving over time. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Union Insurance better, we need to consider many other factors. Case in point: We've spotted 1 warning sign for Union Insurance you should be aware of.

But note: Union Insurance may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies with past earnings growth (and further growth forecast).

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