If you buy and hold a stock for many years, you’d hope to be making a profit. Furthermore, you’d generally like to see the share price rise faster than the market. But TEGNA Inc. (NYSE:TGNA) has fallen short of that second goal, with a share price rise of 55% over five years, which is below the market return. On a brighter note, more newer shareholders are probably rather content with the 20% share price gain over twelve months.

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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In his essay The Superinvestors of Graham-and-Doddsville Warren Buffett described how share prices do not always rationally reflect the value of a business. One way to examine how market sentiment has changed over time is to look at the interaction between a company’s share price and its earnings per share (EPS).

Over half a decade, TEGNA managed to grow its earnings per share at 16% a year. This EPS growth is higher than the 9% average annual increase in the share price. So one could conclude that the broader market has become more cautious towards the stock. The reasonably low P/E ratio of 5.77 also suggests market apprehension.

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

It might be well worthwhile taking a look at our free report on TEGNA’s earnings, revenue and cash flow.

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. So for companies that pay a generous dividend, the TSR is often a lot higher than the share price return. In the case of TEGNA, it has a TSR of 75% for the last 5 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 TEGNA shareholders have received a total shareholder return of 24% over the last year. That’s including the dividend. That gain is better than the annual TSR over five years, which is 12%. Therefore it seems like sentiment around the company has been positive lately. Given the share price momentum remains strong, it might be worth taking a closer look at the stock, lest you miss an opportunity. It’s always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand TEGNA better, we need to consider many other factors. Consider for instance, the ever-present spectre of investment risk. We’ve identified 2 warning signs with TEGNA , and understanding them should be part of your investment process.