Yahoo Finance Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance (NYSE:ARI) sheds US$138m, company earnings and investor returns have been trending downwards for past three years
As an investor its worth striving to ensure your overall portfolio beats the market average. But its virtually certain that sometimes you will buy stocks that fall short of the market average returns. Unfortunately, that's been the case for longer term Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, Inc. (NYSE:ARI) shareholders, since the share price is down 37% in the last three years, falling well short of the market return of around 41%. Even worse, it's down 12% in about a month, which isn't fun at all. We do note, however, that the broader market is down 13% in that period, and this may have weighed on the share price.
With the stock having lost 7.7% in the past week, it's worth taking a look at business performance and seeing if there's any red flags.
Check out our latest analysis for Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance
To paraphrase Benjamin Graham: Over the short term the market is a voting machine, but over the long term it's a weighing machine. By comparing earnings per share (EPS) and share price changes over time, we can get a feel for how investor attitudes to a company have morphed over time.
Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance saw its EPS decline at a compound rate of 9.9% per year, over the last three years. The share price decline of 14% is actually steeper than the EPS slippage. So it's likely that the EPS decline has disappointed the market, leaving investors hesitant to buy. The less favorable sentiment is reflected in its current P/E ratio of 10.15.
The company's earnings per share (over time) is depicted in the image below (click to see the exact numbers).
We're pleased to report that the CEO is remunerated more modestly than most CEOs at similarly capitalized companies. It's always worth keeping an eye on CEO pay, but a more important question is whether the company will grow earnings throughout the years. This free interactive report on Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance's earnings, revenue and cash flow is a great place to start, if you want to investigate the stock further.
What About Dividends?
It is important to consider the total shareholder return, as well as the share price return, for any given stock. 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. It's fair to say that the TSR gives a more complete picture for stocks that pay a dividend. In the case of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, it has a TSR of -11% for the last 3 years. That exceeds its share price return that we previously mentioned. This is largely a result of its dividend payments!
A Different Perspective
The total return of 9.3% received by Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance shareholders over the last year isn't far from the market return of -9.4%. The silver lining is that longer term investors would have made a total return of 2% per year over half a decade. If the stock price has been impacted by changing sentiment, rather than deteriorating business conditions, it could spell opportunity. I find it very interesting to look at share price over the long term as a proxy for business performance. But to truly gain insight, we need to consider other information, too. For example, we've discovered 2 warning signs for Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance that you should be aware of before investing here.
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 US exchanges.
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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.
