It hasn't been the best quarter for Ally Financial Inc. (NYSE:ALLY) shareholders, since the share price has fallen 15% in that time. But that fact in itself shouldn't obscure what are quite decent returns over the last year. After all, the stock has performed better than the market's return of (33%) over the last year, and is up 37%.

Let's take a look at the underlying fundamentals over the longer term, and see if they've been consistent with shareholders returns.

To quote Buffett, 'Ships will sail around the world but the Flat Earth Society will flourish. There will continue to be wide discrepancies between price and value in the marketplace...' One way to examine how market sentiment has changed over time is to look at the interaction between a company's share price and its earnings per share (EPS).

During the last year, Ally Financial actually saw its earnings per share drop 31%.

So we don't think that investors are paying too much attention to EPS. Therefore, it seems likely that investors are putting more weight on metrics other than EPS, at the moment.

Unfortunately Ally Financial's fell 8.0% over twelve months. So the fundamental metrics don't provide an obvious explanation for the share price gain.

You can see below how earnings and revenue have changed over time (discover the exact values by clicking on the image).

Ally Financial is a well known stock, with plenty of analyst coverage, suggesting some visibility into future growth. Given we have quite a good number of analyst forecasts, it might be well worth checking out this free chart depicting consensus estimates.

What About Dividends?

When looking at investment returns, it is important to consider the difference between total shareholder return (TSR) and share price return. The TSR is a return calculation that accounts for the value of cash dividends (assuming that any dividend received was reinvested) and the calculated value of any discounted capital raisings and spin-offs. So for companies that pay a generous dividend, the TSR is often a lot higher than the share price return. As it happens, Ally Financial's TSR for the last 1 year was 42%, which exceeds the share price return mentioned earlier. And there's no prize for guessing that the dividend payments largely explain the divergence!

A Different Perspective

It's nice to see that Ally Financial shareholders have received a total shareholder return of 42% over the last year. That's including the dividend. That's better than the annualised return of 6% over half a decade, implying that the company is doing better recently. Someone with an optimistic perspective could view the recent improvement in TSR as indicating that the business itself is getting better with time. Keeping this in mind, a solid next step might be to take a look at Ally Financial's dividend track record. This free interactive graph is a great place to start.

Of course Ally Financial 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 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.