As Heartland Financial USA (NASDAQ:HTLF) advances 4.8% this past week, investors may now be noticing the company's one-year earnings growth
Heartland Financial USA, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTLF) shareholders should be happy to see the share price up 25% in the last month. But that doesn't change the fact that the returns over the last year have been less than pleasing. The cold reality is that the stock has dropped 23% in one year, under-performing the market.
On a more encouraging note the company has added US$69m to its market cap in just the last 7 days, so let's see if we can determine what's driven the one-year loss for shareholders.
See our latest analysis for Heartland Financial USA
To paraphrase Benjamin Graham: Over the short term the market is a voting machine, but over the long term it's a weighing machine. 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.
During the unfortunate twelve months during which the Heartland Financial USA share price fell, it actually saw its earnings per share (EPS) improve by 4.5%. Of course, the situation might betray previous over-optimism about growth.
It seems quite likely that the market was expecting higher growth from the stock. But looking to other metrics might better explain the share price change.
Revenue was fairly steady year on year, which isn't usually such a bad thing. But the share price might be lower because the market expected a meaningful improvement, and got none.
The image below shows how earnings and revenue have tracked over time (if you click on the image you can see greater detail).
We consider it positive that insiders have made significant purchases in the last year. Even so, future earnings will be far more important to whether current shareholders make money. You can see what analysts are predicting for Heartland Financial USA in this interactive graph of future profit estimates.
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. It's fair to say that the TSR gives a more complete picture for stocks that pay a dividend. In the case of Heartland Financial USA, it has a TSR of -20% 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
Heartland Financial USA shareholders are down 20% for the year (even including dividends), but the market itself is up 17%. However, keep in mind that even the best stocks will sometimes underperform the market over a twelve month period. Unfortunately, last year's performance may indicate unresolved challenges, given that it was worse than the annualised loss of 2% over the last half decade. Generally speaking long term share price weakness can be a bad sign, though contrarian investors might want to research the stock in hope of a turnaround. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Heartland Financial USA better, we need to consider many other factors. Even so, be aware that Heartland Financial USA is showing 1 warning sign in our investment analysis , you should know about...
If you like to buy stocks alongside management, then you might just love this free list of companies. (Hint: insiders have been buying them).
Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on American exchanges.
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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.
