It hasn't been the best quarter for Yunnan Copper Co.,Ltd (SZSE:000878) shareholders, since the share price has fallen 12% in that time. On the bright side the share price is up over the last half decade. Unfortunately its return of 29% is below the market return of 43%.

So let's investigate and see if the longer term performance of the company has been in line with the underlying business' progress.

View our latest analysis for Yunnan CopperLtd

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 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 five years of share price growth, Yunnan CopperLtd achieved compound earnings per share (EPS) growth of 25% per year. The EPS growth is more impressive than the yearly share price gain of 5% over the same period. So one could conclude that the broader market has become more cautious towards the stock. This cautious sentiment is reflected in its (fairly low) P/E ratio of 11.48.

The image below shows how EPS has tracked over time (if you click on the image you can see greater detail).

It is of course excellent to see how Yunnan CopperLtd has grown profits over the years, but the future is more important for shareholders. This free interactive report on Yunnan CopperLtd's balance sheet strength is a great place to start, if you want to investigate the stock further.

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. It's fair to say that the TSR gives a more complete picture for stocks that pay a dividend. We note that for Yunnan CopperLtd the TSR over the last 5 years was 38%, which is better than the share price return mentioned above. The dividends paid by the company have thusly boosted the total shareholder return.

A Different Perspective

Yunnan CopperLtd shareholders are down 10% over twelve months (even including dividends), which isn't far from the market return of -9.8%. Longer term investors wouldn't be so upset, since they would have made 7%, each year, over five years. If the stock price has been impacted by changing sentiment, rather than deteriorating business conditions, it could spell opportunity. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Yunnan CopperLtd better, we need to consider many other factors. Even so, be aware that Yunnan CopperLtd is showing 3 warning signs in our investment analysis , you should know about...

If you would prefer to check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss this free list of companies that have proven they can grow earnings.

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.