Heidelberger Druckmaschinen (ETR:HDD) shareholder returns have been incredible, earning 305% in 5 years

Long term investing can be life changing when you buy and hold the truly great businesses. And we've seen some truly amazing gains over the years. Don't believe it? Then look at the Heidelberger Druckmaschinen Aktiengesellschaft (ETR:HDD) share price. It's 305% higher than it was five years ago. If that doesn't get you thinking about long term investing, we don't know what will. Also pleasing for shareholders was the 52% gain in the last three months.

The past week has proven to be lucrative for Heidelberger Druckmaschinen investors, so let's see if fundamentals drove the company's five-year performance.

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To quote Buffett, 'Ships will sail around the world but the Flat Earth Society will flourish. There will continue to be wide discrepancies between price and value in the marketplace...' 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).

During the five years of share price growth, Heidelberger Druckmaschinen moved from a loss to profitability. That kind of transition can be an inflection point that justifies a strong share price gain, just as we have seen here.

You can see how EPS has changed over time in the image below (click on the chart to see the exact values).

We know that Heidelberger Druckmaschinen has improved its bottom line lately, but is it going to grow revenue? You could check out this free report showing analyst revenue forecasts.

A Different Perspective

It's good to see that Heidelberger Druckmaschinen has rewarded shareholders with a total shareholder return of 113% in the last twelve months. Since the one-year TSR is better than the five-year TSR (the latter coming in at 32% per year), it would seem that the stock's performance has improved in recent times. In the best case scenario, this may hint at some real business momentum, implying that now could be a great time to delve deeper. While it is well worth considering the different impacts that market conditions can have on the share price, there are other factors that are even more important. Case in point: We've spotted 2 warning signs for Heidelberger Druckmaschinen you should be aware of, and 1 of them shouldn't be ignored.

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