In This Article:
Most people feel a little frustrated if a stock they own goes down in price. But in the short term the market is a voting machine, and the share price movements may not reflect the underlying business performance. The Old National Bancorp (NASDAQ:ONB) is down 12% over a year, but the total shareholder return is -9.3% once you include the dividend. That's better than the market which declined 16% over the last year. Taking the longer term view, the stock fell 11% over the last three years.
Since shareholders are down over the longer term, lets look at the underlying fundamentals over the that time and see if they've been consistent with returns.
Check out our latest analysis for Old National Bancorp
While markets are a powerful pricing mechanism, share prices reflect investor sentiment, not just underlying business performance. One way to examine how market sentiment has changed over time is to look at the interaction between a company's share price and its earnings per share (EPS).
Unfortunately Old National Bancorp reported an EPS drop of 49% for the last year. This fall in the EPS is significantly worse than the 12% the share price fall. It may have been that the weak EPS was not as bad as some had feared.
The company's earnings per share (over time) is depicted in the image below (click to see the exact numbers).
It's probably worth noting we've seen significant insider buying in the last quarter, which we consider a positive. That said, we think earnings and revenue growth trends are even more important factors to consider. This free interactive report on Old National Bancorp'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. Arguably, the TSR gives a more comprehensive picture of the return generated by a stock. As it happens, Old National Bancorp's TSR for the last 1 year was -9.3%, which exceeds the share price return mentioned earlier. The dividends paid by the company have thusly boosted the total shareholder return.
A Different Perspective
Although it hurts that Old National Bancorp returned a loss of 9.3% in the last twelve months, the broader market was actually worse, returning a loss of 16%. Of course, the long term returns are far more important and the good news is that over five years, the stock has returned 0.7% for each year. It could be that the business is just facing some short term problems, but shareholders should keep a close eye on the fundamentals. While it is well worth considering the different impacts that market conditions can have on the share price, there are other factors that are even more important. Consider for instance, the ever-present spectre of investment risk. We've identified 2 warning signs with Old National Bancorp (at least 1 which is significant) , and understanding them should be part of your investment process.