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NWS Holdings Limited (HKG:659) shareholders might be concerned after seeing the share price drop 19% in the last month. But at least the stock is up over the last three years. In that time, it is up 35%, which isn't bad, but not amazing either.

View our latest analysis for NWS Holdings

There is no denying that markets are sometimes efficient, but prices do not always reflect 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.

NWS Holdings was able to grow its EPS at 5.5% per year over three years, sending the share price higher. In comparison, the 10% per year gain in the share price outpaces the EPS growth. This suggests that, as the business progressed over the last few years, it gained the confidence of market participants. It is quite common to see investors become enamoured with a business, after a few years of solid progress.

You can see below how EPS has changed over time (discover the exact values by clicking on the image).

Dive deeper into NWS Holdings's key metrics by checking this interactive graph of NWS Holdings's earnings, revenue and cash flow.

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. It's fair to say that the TSR gives a more complete picture for stocks that pay a dividend. We note that for NWS Holdings the TSR over the last 3 years was 62%, which is better than the share price return mentioned above. This is largely a result of its dividend payments!

A Different Perspective

We're pleased to report that NWS Holdings shareholders have received a total shareholder return of 21% over one year. And that does include the dividend. That's better than the annualised return of 11% over half a decade, implying that the company is doing better recently. Someone with an optimistic perspective could view the recent improvement in TSR as indicating that the business itself is getting better with time. Importantly, we haven't analysed NWS Holdings's dividend history. This free visual report on its dividends is a must-read if you're thinking of buying.