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It's easy to match the overall market return by buying an index fund. While individual stocks can be big winners, plenty more fail to generate satisfactory returns. Investors in Microequities Asset Management Group Limited (ASX:MAM) have tasted that bitter downside in the last year, as the share price dropped 51%. That's disappointing when you consider the market returned 13%. Microequities Asset Management Group hasn't been listed for long, so although we're wary of recent listings that perform poorly, it may still prove itself with time. Unhappily, the share price slid 5.6% in the last week.

View our latest analysis for Microequities Asset Management Group

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.

Unhappily, Microequities Asset Management Group had to report a 42% decline in EPS over the last year. This proportional reduction in earnings per share isn't far from the 51% decrease in the share price. Therefore one could posit that the market has not become more concerned about the company, despite the lower EPS. Instead, the change in the share price seems to reduction in earnings per share, alone.

The graphic below depicts how EPS has changed over time (unveil the exact values by clicking on the image).

This free interactive report on Microequities Asset Management Group's earnings, revenue and cash flow is a great place to start, if you want to investigate the stock further.

What About Dividends?

As well as measuring the share price return, investors should also consider the total shareholder return (TSR). 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. So for companies that pay a generous dividend, the TSR is often a lot higher than the share price return. We note that for Microequities Asset Management Group the TSR over the last year was -49%, which is better than the share price return mentioned above. This is largely a result of its dividend payments!

A Different Perspective

While Microequities Asset Management Group shareholders are down 49% for the year (even including dividends), the market itself is up 13%. While the aim is to do better than that, it's worth recalling that even great long-term investments sometimes underperform for a year or more. The share price decline has continued throughout the most recent three months, down 17%, suggesting an absence of enthusiasm from investors. Basically, most investors should be wary of buying into a poor-performing stock, unless the business itself has clearly improved. Before forming an opinion on Microequities Asset Management Group you might want to consider the cold hard cash it pays as a dividend. This free chart tracks its dividend over time.

For those who like to find winning investments this free list of growing companies with recent insider purchasing, could be just the ticket.

Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on AU 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.