Yahoo Finance Manulife Financial (TSE:MFC) Shareholders Booked A 26% Gain In The Last Year
These days it's easy to simply buy an index fund, and your returns should (roughly) match the market. But if you pick the right individual stocks, you could make more than that. To wit, the Manulife Financial Corporation (TSE:MFC) share price is 26% higher than it was a year ago, much better than the market return of around 11% (not including dividends) in the same period. That's a solid performance by our standards! The longer term returns have not been as good, with the stock price only 4.0% higher than it was three years ago.
Check out our latest analysis for Manulife Financial
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 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 the last year Manulife Financial grew its earnings per share (EPS) by 98%. It's fair to say that the share price gain of 26% did not keep pace with the EPS growth. So it seems like the market has cooled on Manulife Financial, despite the growth. Interesting. The caution is also evident in the lowish P/E ratio of 10.44.
The company's earnings per share (over time) is depicted in the image below (click to see the exact numbers).
We know that Manulife Financial has improved its bottom line lately, but is it going to grow revenue? You could check out this free report showing analyst revenue forecasts.
What About Dividends?
It is important to consider the total shareholder return, as well as the share price return, for any given stock. Whereas the share price return only reflects the change in the share price, the TSR includes the value of dividends (assuming they were reinvested) and the benefit of any discounted capital raising or spin-off. Arguably, the TSR gives a more comprehensive picture of the return generated by a stock. We note that for Manulife Financial the TSR over the last year was 32%, which is better than the share price return mentioned above. And there's no prize for guessing that the dividend payments largely explain the divergence!
A Different Perspective
It's good to see that Manulife Financial has rewarded shareholders with a total shareholder return of 32% in the last twelve months. And that does include the dividend. That's better than the annualised return of 7.7% over half a decade, implying that the company is doing better recently. In the best case scenario, this may hint at some real business momentum, implying that now could be a great time to delve deeper. If you would like to research Manulife Financial in more detail then you might want to take a look at whether insiders have been buying or selling shares in the company.
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 CA 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.
