Shareholders Of APN Convenience Retail REIT (ASX:AQR) Must Be Happy With Their 65% Return

One simple way to benefit from the stock market is to buy an index fund. But if you pick the right individual stocks, you could make more than that. Just take a look at APN Convenience Retail REIT (ASX:AQR), which is up 34%, over three years, soundly beating the market return of 3.0% (not including dividends). On the other hand, the returns haven't been quite so good recently, with shareholders up just 19% , including dividends .

See our latest analysis for APN Convenience Retail REIT

While markets are a powerful pricing mechanism, share prices reflect investor sentiment, not just underlying business performance. 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.

APN Convenience Retail REIT became profitable within the last three years. That would generally be considered a positive, so we'd expect the share price to be up.

You can see how EPS has changed over time in the image below (click on the chart to see the exact values).

It is of course excellent to see how APN Convenience Retail REIT has grown profits over the years, but the future is more important for shareholders. You can see how its balance sheet has strengthened (or weakened) over time in this free interactive graphic.

What About Dividends?

As well as measuring the share price return, investors should also consider the total shareholder return (TSR). The TSR incorporates the value of any spin-offs or discounted capital raisings, along with any dividends, based on the assumption that the dividends are reinvested. So for companies that pay a generous dividend, the TSR is often a lot higher than the share price return. As it happens, APN Convenience Retail REIT's TSR for the last 3 years was 65%, which exceeds the share price return mentioned earlier. The dividends paid by the company have thusly boosted the total shareholder return.

A Different Perspective

It's nice to see that APN Convenience Retail REIT shareholders have gained 19% (in total) over the last year. That's including the dividend. That gain actually surpasses the 18% TSR it generated (per year) over three years. Given the track record of solid returns over varying time frames, it might be worth putting APN Convenience Retail REIT on your watchlist. 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 3 warning signs for APN Convenience Retail REIT that you should be aware of before investing here.

We will like APN Convenience Retail REIT better if we see some big insider buys. While we wait, check out this free list of growing companies with considerable, recent, insider buying.

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

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. 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.

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