When we invest, we’re generally looking for stocks that outperform the market average. And in our experience, buying the right stocks can give your wealth a significant boost. For example, long term HRnetGroup Limited (SGX:CHZ) shareholders have enjoyed a 34% share price rise over the last half decade, well in excess of the market return of around 21% (not including dividends). On the other hand, the more recent gains haven’t been so impressive, with shareholders gaining just 1.4%, including dividends.

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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There is no denying that markets are sometimes efficient, but prices do not always reflect 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.

HRnetGroup’s earnings per share are down 2.4% per year, despite strong share price performance over five years.

So it’s hard to argue that the earnings per share are the best metric to judge the company, as it may not be optimized for profits at this point. Therefore, it’s worth taking a look at other metrics to try to understand the share price movements.

We note that the dividend is higher than it was previously – always nice to see. Maybe dividend investors have helped support the share price. We’d posit that the revenue growth over the last five years, of 6.8% per year, would encourage people to invest.

The graphic below depicts how earnings and revenue have changed over time (unveil the exact values by clicking on the image).

Take a more thorough look at HRnetGroup’s financial health with this free report on its balance sheet.

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. Arguably, the TSR gives a more comprehensive picture of the return generated by a stock. As it happens, HRnetGroup’s TSR for the last 5 years was 73%, which exceeds the share price return mentioned earlier. The dividends paid by the company have thusly boosted the total shareholder return.

HRnetGroup shareholders gained a total return of 1.4% during the year. Unfortunately this falls short of the market return. On the bright side, the longer term returns (running at about 12% a year, over half a decade) look better. Maybe the share price is just taking a breather while the business executes on its growth strategy. Most investors take the time to check the data on insider transactions. You can click here to see if insiders have been buying or selling.