Unfortunately, there are also companies that destroy shareholder wealth. This typically happens when companies suffer from falling profits or are making losses, demonstrate weak corporate governance resulting in loss of investor confidence in its growth outlook and integrity, and so on. The thing is, aside from cases of outright fraud, many of these value destroyers — whose share prices are in secular decline — did not start out as such. In fact, some were incredibly successful in the past, dominating the industry they are in domestically and even globally. How does a successful value creator turn into a company that destroys shareholder wealth?
We invest in equities on the expectation that companies will create value, leading to higher share prices and returns for shareholders (from the capital appreciation as well as dividends). And most companies generally do — create value for shareholders, that is — albeit to differing degrees.
Typically, shareholder wealth increases when the company’s profits are growing (for instance, through higher sales, cost savings, increased efficiency and productivity) and/ or valuations are rising (when investors become more confident in the stock because of proven management, good governance and improved earnings prospects).
