For true long-term corporate performance, I would want to look beyond just the 6 and 12-month share performance relative to competitors, but rather over a multi-year time horizon. Which companies are able to consistently and sustainably return value to shareholders over many years is what matters to me. Anything can happen within a 52-week period.
Also, in addition to just stock performance, I would want to see valuation multiples to see which company's the market has greater faith in to provide long-term returns. As others have mentioned, it would have been much easier to beat its competitors over the past 12 months if it's P/E multiple was coming in at a very low base and the multiple expansion has just been bringing AC back in line with the industry average.
IN short, there are many, many things which can move an equity price in the short term. Show me 5-year, or preferably 10-year data please!
Originally Posted by
Wallace99
The dividend tithing doesn't matter, I work for a gold mining company, its large and has never paid a dividend and never wants to. Gold companies for most part dont pay one or if they do they are very small. Berkshire Hathaway never wants to pay one either, doesn't mean you shouldn't invest.
I've owned westjet for a couple years now, and happy with it, although they pay a very small dividend. With AC you are paying for the new vision of the company, less service, more seats, and better use of capital. I don't own stock but was really close last summer to buying in, wish I did.
Generally, rapid growth companies do not pay dividends as they prefer to reinvest their capital to drive headline growth. That said, on the other end, well-established (ie. utility-like) businesses will tend to pay the highest dividends as they are in the best position to repay shareholders. Not sure where AC and Westjet stand in terms of growth vs. paying out shareholders, but it's always a balance large firms are trying to deal with.