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Should Bank of Marin Bancorp Be Disappointed With Their 100% Profit?

When we invest, we’re generally looking for stocks that outperform the market average. And while active stock picking involves risks (and requires diversification) it can also provide excess returns. For example, the Bank of Marin Bancorp (NASDAQ:BMRC) share price is up 100% in the last 5 years, clearly besting than the market return of around 40% (ignoring dividends). However, more recent returns haven’t been as impressive as that, with the stock returning just 28% in the last year, including dividends.

View our latest analysis for Bank of Marin Bancorp

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…’ 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.

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Over half a decade, Bank of Marin Bancorp managed to grow its earnings per share at 12% a year. So the EPS growth rate is rather close to the annualized share price gain of 15% per year. This indicates that investor sentiment towards the company has not changed a great deal. Indeed, it would appear the share price is reacting to the EPS.

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

NasdaqCM:BMRC Past and Future Earnings, March 5th 2019
NasdaqCM:BMRC Past and Future Earnings, March 5th 2019

We’re pleased to report that the CEO is remunerated more modestly than most CEOs at similarly capitalized companies. But while CEO remuneration is always worth checking, the really important question is whether the company can grow earnings going forward. This free interactive report on Bank of Marin Bancorp’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 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. As it happens, Bank of Marin Bancorp’s TSR for the last 5 years was 118%, which exceeds the share price return mentioned earlier. This is largely a result of its dividend payments!

A Different Perspective

We’re pleased to report that Bank of Marin Bancorp shareholders have received a total shareholder return of 28% over one year. And that does include the dividend. Since the one-year TSR is better than the five-year TSR (the latter coming in at 17% per year), it would seem that the stock’s performance has improved in recent times. In the best case scenario, this may hint at some real business momentum, implying that now could be a great time to delve deeper. Before spending more time on Bank of Marin Bancorp it might be wise to click here to see if insiders have been buying or selling shares.

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.