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Can You Imagine How Skellerup Holdings's (NZSE:SKL) Shareholders Feel About The 87% Share Price Increase?

When we invest, we're generally looking for stocks that outperform the market average. And the truth is, you can make significant gains if you buy good quality businesses at the right price. For example, long term Skellerup Holdings Limited (NZSE:SKL) shareholders have enjoyed a 87% share price rise over the last half decade, well in excess of the market return of around 54% (not including dividends). On the other hand, the more recent gains haven't been so impressive, with shareholders gaining just 28% , including dividends .

View our latest analysis for Skellerup Holdings

In his essay The Superinvestors of Graham-and-Doddsville Warren Buffett described how share prices do not always rationally reflect the value of a business. One flawed but reasonable way to assess how sentiment around a company has changed is to compare the earnings per share (EPS) with the share price.

Skellerup Holdings's earnings per share are down 6.8% per year, despite strong share price performance over five years.

This means it's unlikely the market is judging the company based on earnings growth. Since the change in EPS doesn't seem to correlate with the change in share price, it's worth taking a look at other metrics.

We note that the dividend is higher than it was previously - always nice to see. It could be that the company is reaching maturity and dividend investors are buying for the yield. We'd posit that the revenue growth over the last five years, of 4.9% per year, would encourage people to invest.

The graphic below depicts how earnings and revenue have changed over time (unveil the exact values by clicking on the image).

NZSE:SKL Income Statement, January 26th 2020
NZSE:SKL Income Statement, January 26th 2020

If you are thinking of buying or selling Skellerup Holdings stock, you should check out this FREE detailed report on its balance sheet.

What About Dividends?

It is important to consider the total shareholder return, as well as the share price return, for any given stock. 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. So for companies that pay a generous dividend, the TSR is often a lot higher than the share price return. We note that for Skellerup Holdings the TSR over the last 5 years was 166%, which is better than the share price return mentioned above. And there's no prize for guessing that the dividend payments largely explain the divergence!

A Different Perspective

Skellerup Holdings provided a TSR of 28% over the year (including dividends) . That's fairly close to the broader market return. That gain looks pretty satisfying, and it is even better than the five-year TSR of 22% per year. It is possible that management foresight will bring growth well into the future, even if the share price slows down. 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 example, we've discovered 1 warning sign for Skellerup Holdings that you should be aware of before investing here.

Of course Skellerup Holdings may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see this free collection of growth stocks.

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

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.

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. Thank you for reading.