The most you can lose on any stock (assuming you don’t use leverage) is 100% of your money. But when you pick a company that is really flourishing, you can make more than 100%. To wit, the Knights Group Holdings plc (LON:KGH) share price has flown 179% in the last three years. That sort of return is as solid as granite. Also pleasing for shareholders was the 15% gain in the last three months.

With that in mind, it’s worth seeing if the company’s underlying fundamentals have been the driver of long term performance, or if there are some discrepancies.

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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.

During three years of share price growth, Knights Group Holdings moved from a loss to profitability. That kind of transition can be an inflection point that justifies a strong share price gain, just as we have seen here.

The graphic below depicts how EPS has changed over time (unveil the exact values by clicking on the image).

It is of course excellent to see how Knights Group Holdings has grown profits over the years, but the future is more important for shareholders. Take a more thorough look at Knights Group Holdings’ financial health with this free report on its balance sheet.

As well as measuring the share price return, investors should also consider the total shareholder return (TSR). 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. In the case of Knights Group Holdings, it has a TSR of 211% for the last 3 years. That exceeds its share price return that we previously mentioned. This is largely a result of its dividend payments!

It’s nice to see that Knights Group Holdings shareholders have received a total shareholder return of 60% over the last year. And that does include the dividend. Notably the five-year annualised TSR loss of 8% per year compares very unfavourably with the recent share price performance. This makes us a little wary, but the business might have turned around its fortunes. It’s always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Knights Group Holdings better, we need to consider many other factors. Take risks, for example – Knights Group Holdings has 3 warning signs we think you should be aware of.