Yahoo Finance The Whirlpool (NYSE:WHR) Share Price Has Gained 43% And Shareholders Are Hoping For More
One way to deal with stock volatility is to ensure you have a properly diverse portfolio. Of course, in an ideal world, all your stocks would beat the market. Whirlpool Corporation (NYSE:WHR) has done well over the last year, with the stock price up 43% beating the market return of 36% (not including dividends). Zooming out, the stock is actually down 20% in the last three years.
View our latest analysis for Whirlpool
To paraphrase Benjamin Graham: Over the short term the market is a voting machine, but over the long term it's a weighing machine. 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.
During the last year Whirlpool grew its earnings per share, moving from a loss to a profit.
When a company is just on the edge of profitability it can be well worth considering other metrics in order to more precisely gauge growth (and therefore understand share price movements).
Revenue was pretty stable on last year, so deeper research might be needed to explain the share price rise.
You can see below how earnings and revenue have changed over time (discover the exact values by clicking on the image).
We know that Whirlpool has improved its bottom line lately, but what does the future have in store? If you are thinking of buying or selling Whirlpool stock, you should check out this free report showing analyst profit forecasts.
What About Dividends?
When looking at investment returns, it is important to consider the difference between total shareholder return (TSR) and share price return. 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. So for companies that pay a generous dividend, the TSR is often a lot higher than the share price return. In the case of Whirlpool, it has a TSR of 48% for the last year. That exceeds its share price return that we previously mentioned. The dividends paid by the company have thusly boosted the total shareholder return.
A Different Perspective
It's nice to see that Whirlpool shareholders have received a total shareholder return of 48% over the last year. Of course, that includes the dividend. There's no doubt those recent returns are much better than the TSR loss of 2.9% per year over five years. This makes us a little wary, but the business might have turned around its fortunes. 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.
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.
