While not a mind-blowing move, it is good to see that the Asia Satellite Telecommunications Holdings Limited (HKG:1135) share price has gained 20% in the last three months. But that is little comfort to those holding over the last half decade, sitting on a big loss. In that time the share price has delivered a rude shock to holders, who find themselves down 78% after a long stretch. So we're not so sure if the recent bounce should be celebrated. But it could be that the fall was overdone.
See our latest analysis for Asia Satellite Telecommunications Holdings
To quote Buffett, 'Ships will sail around the world but the Flat Earth Society will flourish. There will continue to be wide discrepancies between price and value in the marketplace...' By comparing earnings per share (EPS) and share price changes over time, we can get a feel for how investor attitudes to a company have morphed over time.
Looking back five years, both Asia Satellite Telecommunications Holdings's share price and EPS declined; the latter at a rate of 10% per year. Readers should note that the share price has fallen faster than the EPS, at a rate of 26% per year, over the period. So it seems the market was too confident about the business, in the past. The less favorable sentiment is reflected in its current P/E ratio of 6.07.
The graphic below depicts how EPS has changed over time (unveil the exact values by clicking on the image).
Dive deeper into Asia Satellite Telecommunications Holdings's key metrics by checking this interactive graph of Asia Satellite Telecommunications Holdings's earnings, revenue and cash flow.
What About Dividends?
As well as measuring the share price return, investors should also consider the total shareholder return (TSR). 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. As it happens, Asia Satellite Telecommunications Holdings's TSR for the last 5 years was -58%, which exceeds the share price return mentioned earlier. And there's no prize for guessing that the dividend payments largely explain the divergence!
A Different Perspective
It's nice to see that Asia Satellite Telecommunications Holdings shareholders have received a total shareholder return of 15% over the last year. Of course, that includes the dividend. Notably the five-year annualised TSR loss of 16% per year compares very unfavourably with the recent share price performance. We generally put more weight on the long term performance over the short term, but the recent improvement could hint at a (positive) inflection point within the business. Before forming an opinion on Asia Satellite Telecommunications Holdings you might want to consider the cold hard cash it pays as a dividend. This free chart tracks its dividend over time.