Many investors define successful investing as beating the market average over the long term. But its virtually certain that sometimes you will buy stocks that fall short of the market average returns. Unfortunately, that’s been the case for longer term SIGA Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:SIGA) shareholders, since the share price is down 22% in the last three years, falling well short of the market return of around 38%. Furthermore, it’s down 18% in about a quarter. That’s not much fun for holders.

So let’s have a look and see if the longer term performance of the company has been in line with the underlying business’ progress.

Check out our latest analysis for SIGA Technologies

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.

During five years of share price growth, SIGA Technologies moved from a loss to profitability. That would generally be considered a positive, so we are surprised to see the share price is down. So it’s worth looking at other metrics to try to understand the share price move.

We note that the dividend seems healthy enough, so that probably doesn’t explain the share price drop. It’s good to see that SIGA Technologies has increased its revenue over the last three years. If the company can keep growing revenue, there may be an opportunity for investors. You might have to dig deeper to understand the recent share price weakness.

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

It is of course excellent to see how SIGA Technologies has grown profits over the years, but the future is more important for shareholders. If you are thinking of buying or selling SIGA Technologies stock, you should check out this FREE detailed report on its balance sheet.

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 SIGA Technologies, it has a TSR of -3.0% for the last 3 years. That exceeds its share price return that we previously mentioned. This is largely a result of its dividend payments!