Saturday 27 May 2017

The Alchemy of Stock Market Performance - Total Returns to Shareholders

Total Returns to Shareholders

Decomposing total returns to shareholders (TSR) can give better insights into a company's true performance and in setting new targets.

The traditional method decomposes TRS into three parts:

  1. percent change in earnings
  2. percent change in P/E, and, 
  3. dividend yield.


A clearer picture can be found from breaking TRS into four parts:

  1. the value generated from revenue growth net of the capital required to grow
  2. the growth in TRS that would have taken place without the measure in (1),
  3. changes in shareholder's expectations about the company's performance as reflected in a measure such as P/E, and
  4. the effect of leverage.



A good company and a good investment may not be the same.

Example:

Comparing the company and stock performance of Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB) and Henkel from 2008 to 2013

Revenue growth and ROIC:   RB outperformed Henkel in both

Annualised TRS:  RB 19% and Henkel 932%)

Explaination:  Henkel's low starting multiple in 2008 reflected difficulties with its adhesives business, which experienced significant declines in sales volume in 2008 and 2009.




Expectation treadmill

This is the name for a problem faced by high-performing managers who try to meet market expectations that result from the high level of performance in recent periods.

RB above, illustrates the reason that, in the short term, extraordinary managers may deliver only mediocre total returns to shareholders.

Lesson derived (for investors and managers):  A small decline in TRS in the short run to adjust expectations (P/E) may be preferable to desperately trying to maintain TRS through acquisitions and ill-advised ventures.



Summary:

For periods of 10 - 15 years or more, it is true that if managers focus on improving TRS to win performance bonuses, then their interests and the interests of shareholders should be aligned.

The detrimental result of the expectations treadmill is that, for firms that have had superior operating and TRS performance, the managers who try to continually meet the higher expectations may engage in detrimental activities such as ill-advised acquisitions or new ventures.

A company should measure management performance in terms of the company's performance, not its share price.

Three areas of focus should be its performance relative to its peers in its::

  • growth,
  • ROIC, and 
  • TRS,


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