Investors in China Suntien Green Energy (HKG:956) have seen impressive returns of 104% over the past five years

Stock pickers are generally looking for stocks that will outperform the broader market. And in our experience, buying the right stocks can give your wealth a significant boost. For example, long term China Suntien Green Energy Corporation Limited (HKG:956) shareholders have enjoyed a 53% share price rise over the last half decade, well in excess of the market decline of around 5.9% (not including dividends). On the other hand, the more recent gains haven't been so impressive, with shareholders gaining just 34%, including dividends.

So let's investigate and see if the longer term performance of the company has been in line with the underlying business' progress.

View our latest analysis for China Suntien Green Energy

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.

During five years of share price growth, China Suntien Green Energy achieved compound earnings per share (EPS) growth of 6.9% per year. This EPS growth is slower than the share price growth of 9% per year, over the same period. This suggests that market participants hold the company in higher regard, these days. And that's hardly shocking given the track record of growth.

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

It's probably worth noting that the CEO is paid less than the median at similar sized companies. But while CEO remuneration is always worth checking, the really important question is whether the company can grow earnings going forward. Dive deeper into the earnings by checking this interactive graph of China Suntien Green Energy's earnings, revenue and cash flow.

What About Dividends?

It is important to consider the total shareholder return, as well as the share price return, for any given stock. 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. Arguably, the TSR gives a more comprehensive picture of the return generated by a stock. In the case of China Suntien Green Energy, it has a TSR of 104% for the last 5 years. That exceeds its share price return that we previously mentioned. And there's no prize for guessing that the dividend payments largely explain the divergence!

A Different Perspective

It's nice to see that China Suntien Green Energy shareholders have received a total shareholder return of 34% over the last year. That's including the dividend. That's better than the annualised return of 15% over half a decade, implying that the company is doing better recently. In the best case scenario, this may hint at some real business momentum, implying that now could be a great time to delve deeper. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand China Suntien Green Energy better, we need to consider many other factors. Case in point: We've spotted 2 warning signs for China Suntien Green Energy you should be aware of, and 1 of them doesn't sit too well with us.

We will like China Suntien Green Energy better if we see some big insider buys. While we wait, check out this free list of undervalued stocks (mostly small caps) with considerable, recent, insider buying.

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