While Dorian LPG Ltd. (NYSE:LPG) shareholders are probably generally happy, the stock hasn’t had particularly good run recently, with the share price falling 23% in the last quarter. But that doesn’t change the fact that shareholders have received really good returns over the last five years. We think most investors would be happy with the 115% return, over that period. Generally speaking the long term returns will give you a better idea of business quality than short periods can. The more important question is whether the stock is too cheap or too expensive today.

So let’s assess the underlying fundamentals over the last 5 years and see if they’ve moved in lock-step with shareholder returns.

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While markets are a powerful pricing mechanism, share prices reflect investor sentiment, not just underlying business performance. By comparing earnings per share (EPS) and share price changes over time, we can get a feel for how investor attitudes to a company have morphed over time.

Over half a decade, DorianG managed to grow its earnings per share at 8.1% a year. This EPS growth is lower than the 17% average annual increase in the share price. This suggests that market participants hold the company in higher regard, these days. That’s not necessarily surprising considering the five-year track record of earnings growth.

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

We like that insiders have been buying shares in the last twelve months. Having said that, most people consider earnings and revenue growth trends to be a more meaningful guide to the business. Dive deeper into the earnings by checking this interactive graph of DorianG’s earnings, revenue and cash flow.

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. We note that for DorianG the TSR over the last 5 years was 372%, which is better than the share price return mentioned above. This is largely a result of its dividend payments!

DorianG shareholders gained a total return of 11% during the year. Unfortunately this falls short of the market return. If we look back over five years, the returns are even better, coming in at 36% per year for five years. It’s quite possible the business continues to execute with prowess, even as the share price gains are slowing. 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. Even so, be aware that DorianG is showing 4 warning signs in our investment analysis , and 2 of those shouldn’t be ignored…