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. But Altus Group Limited (TSE:AIF) has fallen short of that second goal, with a share price rise of 38% over five years, which is below the market return. Unfortunately the share price is down 1.5% in the last year.

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.

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

We know that Altus Group has been profitable in the past. On the other hand, it reported a trailing twelve months loss, suggesting it isn’t reliably profitable. So it might be better to look at other metrics to try to understand the share price.

The modest 1.2% dividend yield is unlikely to be propping up the share price. On the other hand, Altus Group’s revenue is growing nicely, at a compound rate of 4.9% over the last five years. It’s quite possible that management are prioritizing revenue growth over EPS growth at the moment.

The company’s revenue and earnings (over time) are depicted in the image below (click to see the exact numbers).

It’s probably worth noting we’ve seen significant insider buying in the last quarter, which we consider a positive. On the other hand, we think the revenue and earnings trends are much more meaningful measures of the business. If you are thinking of buying or selling Altus Group stock, you should check out this free report showing analyst profit forecasts.

As well as measuring the share price return, investors should also consider the total shareholder return (TSR). The TSR is a return calculation that accounts for the value of cash dividends (assuming that any dividend received was reinvested) and the calculated value of any discounted capital raisings and spin-offs. It’s fair to say that the TSR gives a more complete picture for stocks that pay a dividend. In the case of Altus Group, it has a TSR of 46% for the last 5 years. That exceeds its share price return that we previously mentioned. The dividends paid by the company have thusly boosted the total shareholder return.