total shareholder return tsr is a measure of financial performance indicating the total amount an investor reaps from an investment specifically equities or shares of stock to arrive at its total usually expressed as a percentage tsr factors in capital gains and dividends from a stock it might also include special distributions stock splits and warrants whichever way it is calculated tsr means the same thing the sum total of what a stock has returned to those who invested in it 
understanding total shareholder return tsr an investor makes money from stock in two basic ways capital gains and current income a capital gain is a change in the market price of the stock from the time it was purchased to the date it was sold or the current price if it is still owned profits in other words current income is the dividends paid out by the company from its earnings while the investor still owns the stock 