Did You Miss Verizon Communications' (NYSE:VZ) 10% Share Price Gain?

Low-cost index funds make it easy to achieve average market returns. But across the board there are plenty of stocks that underperform the market. That's what has happened with the Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) share price. It's up 10% over three years, but that is below the market return. At least the stock price is up over the last year, albeit only by 2.1%.

Check out our latest analysis for Verizon Communications

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 three years of share price growth, Verizon Communications actually saw its earnings per share (EPS) drop 16% per year.

Earnings per share have melted like a stack of ice cubes, in stark contrast to the share price. So we'll need to take a look at some different metrics to try to understand why the share price remains solid.

We note that the dividend is higher than it was preciously, so that may have assisted the share price. It could be that the company is reaching maturity and dividend investors are buying for the yield.

The image below shows how earnings and revenue have tracked over time (if you click on the image you can see greater detail).

Verizon Communications is a well known stock, with plenty of analyst coverage, suggesting some visibility into future growth. If you are thinking of buying or selling Verizon Communications stock, you should check out this free report showing analyst consensus estimates for future profits.

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. In the case of Verizon Communications, it has a TSR of 25% for the last 3 years. That exceeds its share price return that we previously mentioned. And there's no prize for guessing that the dividend payments largely explain the divergence!

A Different Perspective

Verizon Communications provided a TSR of 7.8% over the last twelve months. But that was short of the market average. The silver lining is that the gain was actually better than the average annual return of 5% per year over five year. This suggests the company might be improving over time. 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. For instance, we've identified 3 warning signs for Verizon Communications (1 is potentially serious) that you should be aware of.

If you are like me, then you will not want to miss this free list of growing companies that insiders are buying.

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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