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For many, the main point of investing is to generate higher returns than the overall market. But in any portfolio, there will be mixed results between individual stocks. So we wouldn't blame long term Chatham Lodging Trust (NYSE:CLDT) shareholders for doubting their decision to hold, with the stock down 30% over a half decade. Unhappily, the share price slid 2.0% in the last week.
Check out our latest analysis for Chatham Lodging Trust
There is no denying that markets are sometimes efficient, but prices do not always reflect underlying business performance. 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.
Looking back five years, both Chatham Lodging Trust's share price and EPS declined; the latter at a rate of 27% per year. This fall in the EPS is worse than the 7.0% compound annual share price fall. So the market may previously have expected a drop, or else it expects the situation will improve.
The company's earnings per share (over time) is depicted in the image below (click to see the exact numbers).
This free interactive report on Chatham Lodging Trust's earnings, revenue and cash flow is a great place to start, if you want to investigate the stock further.
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. In the case of Chatham Lodging Trust, it has a TSR of -5.4% 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
Chatham Lodging Trust shareholders are down 5.1% for the year (even including dividends) , but the market itself is up 9.3%. Even the share prices of good stocks drop sometimes, but we want to see improvements in the fundamental metrics of a business, before getting too interested. Regrettably, last year's performance caps off a bad run, with the shareholders facing a total loss of 1.1% per year over five years. We realise that Buffett has said investors should 'buy when there is blood on the streets', but we caution that investors should first be sure they are buying a high quality businesses. Most investors take the time to check the data on insider transactions. You can click here to see if insiders have been buying or selling.