These days it's easy to simply buy an index fund, and your returns should (roughly) match the market. But if you pick the right individual stocks, you could make more than that. For example, the XPO, Inc. (NYSE:XPO) share price is up 55% in the last 1 year, clearly besting the market return of around 25% (not including dividends). If it can keep that out-performance up over the long term, investors will do very well! Looking back further, the stock price is 32% higher than it was three years ago.

Since the stock has added US$869m to its market cap in the past week alone, let's see if underlying performance has been driving long-term returns.

While markets are a powerful pricing mechanism, share prices reflect investor sentiment, not just underlying business performance. One flawed but reasonable way to assess how sentiment around a company has changed is to compare the earnings per share (EPS) with the share price.

During the last year XPO grew its earnings per share (EPS) by 246%. It's fair to say that the share price gain of 55% did not keep pace with the EPS growth. So it seems like the market has cooled on XPO, despite the growth. Interesting.

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

We consider it positive that insiders have made significant purchases in the last year. Even so, future earnings will be far more important to whether current shareholders make money. Before buying or selling a stock, we always recommend a close examination of historic growth trends, available here..

A Different Perspective

It's nice to see that XPO shareholders have received a total shareholder return of 55% over the last year. Since the one-year TSR is better than the five-year TSR (the latter coming in at 35% per year), it would seem that the stock's performance has improved in recent times. In the best case scenario, this may hint at some real business momentum, implying that now could be a great time to delve deeper. I find it very interesting to look at share price over the long term as a proxy for business performance. But to truly gain insight, we need to consider other information, too. Consider for instance, the ever-present spectre of investment risk. We've identified 2 warning signs with XPO (at least 1 which doesn't sit too well with us) , and understanding them should be part of your investment process.

XPO is not the only stock that insiders are buying. For those who like to find lesser know companies this free list of growing companies with recent insider purchasing, could be just the ticket.

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