Does NewMarket's (NYSE:NEU) Share Price Gain of 13% Match Its Business Performance?

When you buy and hold a stock for the long term, you definitely want it to provide a positive return. Better yet, you'd like to see the share price move up more than the market average. Unfortunately for shareholders, while the NewMarket Corporation (NYSE:NEU) share price is up 13% in the last five years, that's less than the market return. Over the last twelve months the stock price has risen a very respectable 8.2%.

Check out our latest analysis for NewMarket

There is no denying that markets are sometimes efficient, but prices do not always reflect underlying business performance. By comparing earnings per share (EPS) and share price changes over time, we can get a feel for how investor attitudes to a company have morphed over time.

Over half a decade, NewMarket managed to grow its earnings per share at 2.2% a year. This EPS growth is reasonably close to the 2.4% average annual increase in the share price. That suggests that the market sentiment around the company hasn't changed much over that time. In fact, the share price seems to largely reflect the EPS growth.

You can see below how EPS has changed over time (discover the exact values by clicking on the image).

It's probably worth noting that the CEO is paid less than the median at similar sized companies. But while CEO remuneration is always worth checking, the really important question is whether the company can grow earnings going forward. This free interactive report on NewMarket's earnings, revenue and cash flow is a great place to start, if you want to investigate the stock further.

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. Arguably, the TSR gives a more comprehensive picture of the return generated by a stock. In the case of NewMarket, it has a TSR of 22% for the last 5 years. That exceeds its share price return that we previously mentioned. This is largely a result of its dividend payments!

A Different Perspective

NewMarket shareholders gained a total return of 10% during the year. Unfortunately this falls short of the market return. The silver lining is that the gain was actually better than the average annual return of 4.0% per year over five year. It is possible that returns will improve along with the business fundamentals. Before spending more time on NewMarket it might be wise to click here to see if insiders have been buying or selling shares.

We will like NewMarket better if we see some big insider buys. While we wait, check out this freelist of growing companies with considerable, recent, insider buying.

We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.

If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. 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. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.