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While Franklin Electric Co., Inc. (NASDAQ:FELE) shareholders are probably generally happy, the stock hasn't had particularly good run recently, with the share price falling 11% in the last quarter. But the silver lining is the stock is up over five years. However we are not very impressed because the share price is only up 82%, less than the market return of 107%.
So let's investigate and see if the longer term performance of the company has been in line with the underlying business' progress.
While markets are a powerful pricing mechanism, share prices reflect investor sentiment, not just 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.
Over half a decade, Franklin Electric managed to grow its earnings per share at 14% a year. So the EPS growth rate is rather close to the annualized share price gain of 13% per year. This indicates that investor sentiment towards the company has not changed a great deal. Rather, the share price has approximately tracked EPS growth.
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 Franklin Electric's earnings, revenue and cash flow is a great place to start, if you want to investigate the stock further.
What About Dividends?
When looking at investment returns, it is important to consider the difference between total shareholder return (TSR) and share price return. 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. So for companies that pay a generous dividend, the TSR is often a lot higher than the share price return. We note that for Franklin Electric the TSR over the last 5 years was 92%, which is better than the share price return mentioned above. This is largely a result of its dividend payments!
A Different Perspective
Investors in Franklin Electric had a tough year, with a total loss of 12% (including dividends), against a market gain of about 9.3%. However, keep in mind that even the best stocks will sometimes underperform the market over a twelve month period. On the bright side, long term shareholders have made money, with a gain of 14% per year over half a decade. If the fundamental data continues to indicate long term sustainable growth, the current sell-off could be an opportunity worth considering. Before spending more time on Franklin Electric it might be wise to click here to see if insiders have been buying or selling shares.