The main point of investing for the long term is to make money. But more than that, you probably want to see it rise more than the market average. Unfortunately for shareholders, while the Tennant Company (NYSE:TNC) share price is up 55% in the last five years, that’s less than the market return. The last year has been disappointing, with the stock price down 24% in that time.

Now it’s worth having a look at the company’s fundamentals too, because that will help us determine if the long term shareholder return has matched the performance of the underlying business.

View our latest analysis for Tennant

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, Tennant managed to grow its earnings per share at 12% a year. The EPS growth is more impressive than the yearly share price gain of 9% over the same period. So it seems the market isn’t so enthusiastic about the stock these days.

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

This free interactive report on Tennant’s earnings, revenue and cash flow is a great place to start, if you want to investigate the stock further.

As well as measuring the share price return, investors should also consider the total shareholder return (TSR). The TSR incorporates the value of any spin-offs or discounted capital raisings, along with any dividends, based on the assumption that the dividends are reinvested. Arguably, the TSR gives a more comprehensive picture of the return generated by a stock. In the case of Tennant, it has a TSR of 66% for the last 5 years. That exceeds its share price return that we previously mentioned. This is largely a result of its dividend payments!

Investors in Tennant had a tough year, with a total loss of 23% (including dividends), against a market gain of about 10%. Even the share prices of good stocks drop sometimes, but we want to see improvements in the fundamental metrics of a business, before getting too interested. On the bright side, long term shareholders have made money, with a gain of 11% per year over half a decade. If the fundamental data continues to indicate long term sustainable growth, the current sell-off could be an opportunity worth considering. Before spending more time on Tennant it might be wise to click here to see if insiders have been buying or selling shares.