It hasn't been the best quarter for Anhui Transport Consulting & Design Institute Co.,Ltd. (SHSE:603357) shareholders, since the share price has fallen 21% in that time. But that doesn't change the fact that the returns over the last three years have been pleasing. After all, the share price is up a market-beating 23% in that time.

On the back of a solid 7-day performance, let's check what role the company's fundamentals have played in driving long term shareholder returns.

While markets are a powerful pricing mechanism, share prices reflect investor sentiment, not just underlying business performance. One imperfect but simple way to consider how the market perception of a company has shifted is to compare the change in the earnings per share (EPS) with the share price movement.

During three years of share price growth, Anhui Transport Consulting & Design InstituteLtd achieved compound earnings per share growth of 8.0% per year. We note that the 7% yearly (average) share price gain isn't too far from the EPS growth rate. Coincidence? Probably not. This suggests that sentiment and expectations have not changed drastically. Rather, the share price has approximately tracked EPS growth.

You can see how EPS has changed over time in the image below (click on the chart to see the exact values).

Before buying or selling a stock, we always recommend a close examination of historic growth trends, available here.

What About Dividends?

It is important to consider the total shareholder return, as well as the share price return, for any given stock. Whereas the share price return only reflects the change in the share price, the TSR includes the value of dividends (assuming they were reinvested) and the benefit of any discounted capital raising or spin-off. So for companies that pay a generous dividend, the TSR is often a lot higher than the share price return. In the case of Anhui Transport Consulting & Design InstituteLtd, it has a TSR of 39% for the last 3 years. That exceeds its share price return that we previously mentioned. This is largely a result of its dividend payments!

A Different Perspective

While it's certainly disappointing to see that Anhui Transport Consulting & Design InstituteLtd shares lost 16% throughout the year, that wasn't as bad as the market loss of 20%. Longer term investors wouldn't be so upset, since they would have made 1.0%, each year, over five years. In the best case scenario the last year is just a temporary blip on the journey to a brighter future. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Anhui Transport Consulting & Design InstituteLtd better, we need to consider many other factors. Even so, be aware that Anhui Transport Consulting & Design InstituteLtd is showing 1 warning sign in our investment analysis , you should know about...

Of course Anhui Transport Consulting & Design InstituteLtd may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see this free collection of growth stocks.

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

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team@simplywallst.com