If you want to compound wealth in the stock market, you can do so by buying an index fund. But you can significantly boost your returns by picking above-average stocks. For example, the Retail Opportunity Investments Corp. (NASDAQ:ROIC) share price is up 11% in the last 1 year, clearly besting the market decline of around 6.0% (not including dividends). That's a solid performance by our standards! Longer term, the stock is up 11% in three years.
So let's investigate and see if the longer term performance of the company has been in line with the underlying business' progress.
View our latest analysis for Retail Opportunity Investments
There is no denying that markets are sometimes efficient, but prices do not always reflect underlying business performance. 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.
During the last year Retail Opportunity Investments grew its earnings per share (EPS) by 63%. This EPS growth is significantly higher than the 11% increase in the share price. So it seems like the market has cooled on Retail Opportunity Investments, despite the growth. Interesting.
The graphic below depicts how EPS has changed over time (unveil the exact values by clicking on the image).
We know that Retail Opportunity Investments has improved its bottom line lately, but is it going to grow revenue? This free report showing analyst revenue forecasts should help you figure out if the EPS growth can be sustained.
What About Dividends?
When looking at investment returns, it is important to consider the difference between total shareholder return (TSR) and share price return. 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 Retail Opportunity Investments, it has a TSR of 14% for the last 1 year. That exceeds its share price return that we previously mentioned. This is largely a result of its dividend payments!
A Different Perspective
We're pleased to report that Retail Opportunity Investments shareholders have received a total shareholder return of 14% over one year. Of course, that includes the dividend. Since the one-year TSR is better than the five-year TSR (the latter coming in at 2% per year), it would seem that the stock's performance has improved in recent times. Someone with an optimistic perspective could view the recent improvement in TSR as indicating that the business itself is getting better with 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. Take risks, for example - Retail Opportunity Investments has 5 warning signs (and 2 which can't be ignored) we think you should know about.