Systemax (NYSE:SYX) Has Rewarded Shareholders With An Exceptional 738% Total Return On Their Investment

Long term investing can be life changing when you buy and hold the truly great businesses. And highest quality companies can see their share prices grow by huge amounts. Don't believe it? Then look at the Systemax Inc. (NYSE:SYX) share price. It's 407% higher than it was five years ago. This just goes to show the value creation that some businesses can achieve. It's also good to see the share price up 61% over the last quarter.

Check out our latest analysis for Systemax

While the efficient markets hypothesis continues to be taught by some, it has been proven that markets are over-reactive dynamic systems, and investors are not always rational. 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 five years of share price growth, Systemax moved from a loss to profitability. That kind of transition can be an inflection point that justifies a strong share price gain, just as we have seen here. Given that the company made a profit three years ago, but not five years ago, it is worth looking at the share price returns over the last three years, too. We can see that the Systemax share price is up 25% in the last three years. Meanwhile, EPS is up 9.4% per year. This EPS growth is higher than the 8% average annual increase in the share price over the same three years. So you might conclude the market is a little more cautious about the stock, these days.

The company's earnings per share (over time) is depicted in the image below (click to see the exact numbers).

We know that Systemax has improved its bottom line lately, but is it going to grow revenue? If you're interested, you could check this free report showing consensus revenue forecasts.

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. As it happens, Systemax's TSR for the last 5 years was 738%, which exceeds the share price return mentioned earlier. This is largely a result of its dividend payments!

A Different Perspective

We're pleased to report that Systemax shareholders have received a total shareholder return of 76% over one year. That's including the dividend. Since the one-year TSR is better than the five-year TSR (the latter coming in at 53% per year), it would seem that the stock's performance has improved in recent times. Someone with an optimistic perspective could view the recent improvement in TSR as indicating that the business itself is getting better with time. 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. Case in point: We've spotted 3 warning signs for Systemax you should be aware of.

But note: Systemax 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 US 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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