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Those who invested in Alimentation Couche-Tard (TSE:ATD) five years ago are up 74%

Simply Wall St · 1d ago

The main point of investing for the long term is to make money. Better yet, you'd like to see the share price move up more than the market average. But Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. (TSE:ATD) has fallen short of that second goal, with a share price rise of 66% over five years, which is below the market return. Zooming in, the stock is actually down 7.7% in the last year.

With that in mind, it's worth seeing if the company's underlying fundamentals have been the driver of long term performance, or if there are some discrepancies.

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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 way to examine how market sentiment has changed over time is to look at the interaction between a company's share price and its earnings per share (EPS).

Over half a decade, Alimentation Couche-Tard managed to grow its earnings per share at 2.5% a year. This EPS growth is lower than the 11% average annual increase in the share price. So it's fair to assume the market has a higher opinion of the business than it did five years ago. And that's hardly shocking given the track record of growth.

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

earnings-per-share-growth
TSX:ATD Earnings Per Share Growth December 24th 2025

We consider it positive that insiders have made significant purchases in the last year. Having said that, most people consider earnings and revenue growth trends to be a more meaningful guide to the business. It might be well worthwhile taking a look at our free report on Alimentation Couche-Tard's earnings, revenue and cash flow.

What About Dividends?

It is important to consider the total shareholder return, as well as the share price return, for any given stock. The TSR is a return calculation that accounts for the value of cash dividends (assuming that any dividend received was reinvested) and the calculated value of any discounted capital raisings and spin-offs. It's fair to say that the TSR gives a more complete picture for stocks that pay a dividend. In the case of Alimentation Couche-Tard, it has a TSR of 74% for the last 5 years. That exceeds its share price return that we previously mentioned. The dividends paid by the company have thusly boosted the total shareholder return.

A Different Perspective

Investors in Alimentation Couche-Tard had a tough year, with a total loss of 6.7% (including dividends), against a market gain of about 31%. Even the share prices of good stocks drop sometimes, but we want to see improvements in the fundamental metrics of a business, before getting too interested. Longer term investors wouldn't be so upset, since they would have made 12%, each year, over five years. If the fundamental data continues to indicate long term sustainable growth, the current sell-off could be an opportunity worth considering. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Alimentation Couche-Tard better, we need to consider many other factors. Consider risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 1 warning sign for Alimentation Couche-Tard you should know about.

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