Fortune Brands Home & Security (NYSE:FBHS) Shareholders Booked A 47% Gain In The Last Year
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 Fortune Brands Home & Security, Inc. (NYSE:FBHS) share price is up 47% in the last year, clearly besting the market return of around 14% (not including dividends). That's a solid performance by our standards! However, the longer term returns haven't been so impressive, with the stock up just 8.6% in the last three years.
View our latest analysis for Fortune Brands Home & Security
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.
Fortune Brands Home & Security was able to grow EPS by 0.3% in the last twelve months. This EPS growth is significantly lower than the 47% increase in the share price. This indicates that the market is now more optimistic about the stock.
You can see below how EPS has changed over time (discover the exact values by clicking on the image).
This free interactive report on Fortune Brands Home & Security'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 incorporates the value of any spin-offs or discounted capital raisings, along with any dividends, based on the assumption that the dividends are reinvested. So for companies that pay a generous dividend, the TSR is often a lot higher than the share price return. In the case of Fortune Brands Home & Security, it has a TSR of 50% for the last year. That exceeds its share price return that we previously mentioned. And there's no prize for guessing that the dividend payments largely explain the divergence!
A Different Perspective
We're pleased to report that Fortune Brands Home & Security shareholders have received a total shareholder return of 50% over one year. That's including the dividend. That gain is better than the annual TSR over five years, which is 8.0%. Therefore it seems like sentiment around the company has been positive lately. Someone with an optimistic perspective could view the recent improvement in TSR as indicating that the business itself is getting better with time. 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.
If you would prefer to check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss this free list of companies that have proven they can grow earnings.
Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on US exchanges.
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.
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. Thank you for reading.