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Imagine Owning BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) And Wondering If The 19% Share Price Slide Is Justified

Passive investing in an index fund is a good way to ensure your own returns roughly match the overall market. Active investors aim to buy stocks that vastly outperform the market - but in the process, they risk under-performance. That downside risk was realized by BankUnited, Inc. (NYSE:BKU) shareholders over the last year, as the share price declined 19%. That's disappointing when you consider the market returned 1.1%. On the other hand, the stock is actually up 3.1% over three years. The silver lining is that the stock is up 4.2% in about a week.

View our latest analysis for BankUnited

While the efficient markets hypothesis continues to be taught by some, it has been proven that markets are over-reactive dynamic systems, and investors are not always rational. 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.

Unfortunately BankUnited reported an EPS drop of 53% for the last year. This fall in the EPS is significantly worse than the 19% the share price fall. So despite the weak per-share profits, some investors are probably relieved the situation wasn't more difficult.

The image below shows how EPS has tracked over time (if you click on the image you can see greater detail).

NYSE:BKU Past and Future Earnings, September 3rd 2019
NYSE:BKU Past and Future Earnings, September 3rd 2019

Dive deeper into BankUnited's key metrics by checking this interactive graph of BankUnited's earnings, revenue and cash flow.

What About Dividends?

It is important to consider the total shareholder return, as well as the share price return, for any given stock. 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. Arguably, the TSR gives a more comprehensive picture of the return generated by a stock. As it happens, BankUnited's TSR for the last year was -17%, which exceeds the share price return mentioned earlier. This is largely a result of its dividend payments!

A Different Perspective

While the broader market gained around 1.1% in the last year, BankUnited shareholders lost 17% (even including dividends). Even the share prices of good stocks drop sometimes, but we want to see improvements in the fundamental metrics of a business, before getting too interested. Longer term investors wouldn't be so upset, since they would have made 2.7%, each year, over five years. It could be that the recent sell-off is an opportunity, so it may be worth checking the fundamental data for signs of a long term growth trend. 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 are like me, then you will not want to miss this free list of growing companies that insiders are buying.

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.

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