Introducing South Jersey Industries (NYSE:SJI), A Stock That Climbed 11% In The Last Five Years

When you buy and hold a stock for the long term, you definitely want it to provide a positive return. But more than that, you probably want to see it rise more than the market average. Unfortunately for shareholders, while the South Jersey Industries, Inc. (NYSE:SJI) share price is up 11% in the last five years, that's less than the market return. Looking at the last year alone, the stock is up 10%.

Check out our latest analysis for South Jersey Industries

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 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.

During the five years of share price growth, South Jersey Industries moved from a loss to profitability. That's generally thought to be a genuine positive, so we would expect to see an increasing share price.

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

We know that South Jersey Industries has improved its bottom line lately, but is it going to grow revenue? You could check out this free report showing analyst revenue forecasts.

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. So for companies that pay a generous dividend, the TSR is often a lot higher than the share price return. As it happens, South Jersey Industries's TSR for the last 5 years was 33%, which exceeds the share price return mentioned earlier. This is largely a result of its dividend payments!

A Different Perspective

South Jersey Industries shareholders are up 14% for the year (even including dividends) . But that was short of the market average. The silver lining is that the gain was actually better than the average annual return of 5.8% per year over five year. It is possible that returns will improve along with the business 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. Be aware that South Jersey Industries is showing 3 warning signs in our investment analysis , and 1 of those makes us a bit uncomfortable...

Of course South Jersey Industries may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see this free collection of growth stocks.

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

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.

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. Thank you for reading.