By buying an index fund, you can roughly match the market return with ease. But many of us dare to dream of bigger returns, and build a portfolio ourselves. For example, the BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) share price is up 69% in the last three years, clearly besting the market return of around 40% (not including dividends). On the other hand, the returns haven’t been quite so good recently, with shareholders up just 27%.

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

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To paraphrase Benjamin Graham: Over the short term the market is a voting machine, but over the long term it’s a weighing machine. 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.

BJ’s Restaurants was able to grow its EPS at 188% per year over three years, sending the share price higher. This EPS growth is higher than the 19% average annual increase in the share price. So it seems investors have become more cautious about the company, over time.

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

We’re pleased to report that the CEO is remunerated more modestly than most CEOs at similarly capitalized companies. It’s always worth keeping an eye on CEO pay, but a more important question is whether the company will grow earnings throughout the years. It might be well worthwhile taking a look at our free report on BJ’s Restaurants’ earnings, revenue and cash flow.

We’re pleased to report that BJ’s Restaurants shareholders have received a total shareholder return of 27% over one year. Since the one-year TSR is better than the five-year TSR (the latter coming in at 10% per year), it would seem that the stock’s performance has improved in recent times. Given the share price momentum remains strong, it might be worth taking a closer look at the stock, lest you miss an opportunity. While it is well worth considering the different impacts that market conditions can have on the share price, there are other factors that are even more important. For instance, we’ve identified 2 warning signs for BJ’s Restaurants that you should be aware of.

Of course BJ’s Restaurants may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see this free collection of growth stocks.