Can You Imagine How United-Guardian's (NASDAQ:UG) Shareholders Feel About The 22% Share Price Increase?
Buying a low-cost index fund will get you the average market return. But if you invest in individual stocks, some are likely to underperform. Unfortunately for shareholders, while the United-Guardian, Inc. (NASDAQ:UG) share price is up 22% in the last three years, that falls short of the market return. Unfortunately, the share price has fallen 1.0% over twelve months.
Check out our latest analysis for United-Guardian
While markets are a powerful pricing mechanism, share prices reflect investor sentiment, not just 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 three years of share price growth, United-Guardian achieved compound earnings per share growth of 21% per year. This EPS growth is higher than the 7.0% average annual increase in the share price. Therefore, it seems the market has moderated its expectations for growth, somewhat.
The company's earnings per share (over time) is depicted in the image below (click to see the exact numbers).
It might be well worthwhile taking a look at our free report on United-Guardian'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 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. It's fair to say that the TSR gives a more complete picture for stocks that pay a dividend. We note that for United-Guardian the TSR over the last 3 years was 47%, which is better than the share price return mentioned above. This is largely a result of its dividend payments!
A Different Perspective
United-Guardian provided a TSR of 4.6% over the last twelve months. But that was short of the market average. If we look back over five years, the returns are even better, coming in at 5.1% per year for five years. It's quite possible the business continues to execute with prowess, even as the share price gains are slowing. 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. Consider risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 2 warning signs for United-Guardian you should know about.
Of course United-Guardian may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see this free collection of growth stocks.
Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on US exchanges.
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.
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. Thank you for reading.
