While shareholders of CSN Mineração (BVMF:CMIN3) are in the red over the last year, underlying earnings have actually grown

CSN Mineração S.A. (BVMF:CMIN3) shareholders should be happy to see the share price up 10% in the last week. But that is minimal compensation for the share price under-performance over the last year. In fact, the price has declined 19% in a year, falling short of the returns you could get by investing in an index fund.

While the last year has been tough for CSN Mineração shareholders, this past week has shown signs of promise. So let's look at the longer term fundamentals and see if they've been the driver of the negative returns.

View our latest analysis for CSN Mineração

While markets are a powerful pricing mechanism, share prices reflect investor sentiment, not just underlying business performance. One imperfect but simple way to consider how the market perception of a company has shifted is to compare the change in the earnings per share (EPS) with the share price movement.

Even though the CSN Mineração share price is down over the year, its EPS actually improved. It's quite possible that growth expectations may have been unreasonable in the past.

It's surprising to see the share price fall so much, despite the improved EPS. So it's easy to justify a look at some other metrics.

We don't see any weakness in the CSN Mineração's dividend so the steady payout can't really explain the share price drop. From what we can see, revenue is pretty flat, so that doesn't really explain the share price drop. Of course, it could simply be that it simply fell short of the market consensus expectations.

You can see how earnings and revenue have changed over time in the image below (click on the chart to see the exact values).

We know that CSN Mineração has improved its bottom line lately, but what does the future have in store? So it makes a lot of sense to check out what analysts think CSN Mineração will earn in the future (free profit forecasts).

What About Dividends?

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. It's fair to say that the TSR gives a more complete picture for stocks that pay a dividend. We note that for CSN Mineração the TSR over the last 1 year was -8.9%, which is better than the share price return mentioned above. This is largely a result of its dividend payments!

A Different Perspective

Over the last year, CSN Mineração shareholders took a loss of 8.9%, including dividends. In contrast the market gained about 3.5%. However, keep in mind that even the best stocks will sometimes underperform the market over a twelve month period. Investors are up over three years, booking 11% per year, much better than the more recent returns. The recent sell-off could be an opportunity if the business remains sound, so it may be worth checking the fundamental data for signs of a long-term growth trend. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand CSN Mineração better, we need to consider many other factors. For example, we've discovered 3 warning signs for CSN Mineração (1 is a bit unpleasant!) that you should be aware of before investing here.

But note: CSN Mineração may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies with past earnings growth (and further growth forecast).

Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on Brazilian exchanges.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.