Passive investing in index funds can generate returns that roughly match the overall market. But you can significantly boost your returns by picking above-average stocks. For example, the Singapore Land Group Limited (SGX:U06) share price is up 71% in the last 1 year, clearly besting the market return of around 23% (not including dividends). So that should have shareholders smiling. Also impressive, the stock is up 35% over three years, making long term shareholders happy, too.

So let’s investigate and see if the longer term performance of the company has been in line with the underlying business’ progress.

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To paraphrase Benjamin Graham: Over the short term the market is a voting machine, but over the long term it’s a weighing machine. 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.

Singapore Land Group was able to grow EPS by 43% in the last twelve months. The share price gain of 71% certainly outpaced the EPS growth. This indicates that the market is now more optimistic about the stock.

You can see below how EPS has changed over time (discover the exact values by clicking on the image).

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. Dive deeper into the earnings by checking this interactive graph of Singapore Land Group’s earnings, revenue and cash flow.

It is important to consider the total shareholder return, as well as the share price return, for any given stock. 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. We note that for Singapore Land Group the TSR over the last 1 year was 75%, which is better than the share price return mentioned above. And there’s no prize for guessing that the dividend payments largely explain the divergence!

We’re pleased to report that Singapore Land Group shareholders have received a total shareholder return of 75% over one year. And that does include the dividend. That’s better than the annualised return of 7% over half a decade, implying that the company is doing better recently. Given the share price momentum remains strong, it might be worth taking a closer look at the stock, lest you miss an opportunity. It’s always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Singapore Land Group better, we need to consider many other factors. For instance, we’ve identified 1 warning sign for Singapore Land Group that you should be aware of.