Here's How Much You Would Have Made Owning East West Bancorp Stock In The Last 5 Years

East West Bancorp EWBC has outperformed the market over the past 90 days by 11.72%, generating a 13.02% return for its investors over the time period. Now, given this information, it may seem like price appreciation alone is the best way to have made money on this stock, that's not actually the case.

This is because East West Bancorp has been paying out a regular cash dividend every year over the past 5 years. Investors who fail to account for dividends are missing a key ingredient in calculating a stock's profitability over time.

Calculating $100 Cash Growth Since 2016

Finally -- what's the point of all this? The key insight to take from this article is to note how much of a difference re-investing dividends can make in your cash growth over a period of time. Dividends surely can matter.

You can check out Benzinga's dividend data here or in an enhanced view on Benzinga Pro