I.D.I. Insurance's (TLV:IDIN) earnings have declined over five years, contributing to shareholders 41% loss

I.D.I. Insurance Company Ltd. (TLV:IDIN) shareholders should be happy to see the share price up 21% in the last month. But over the last half decade, the stock has not performed well. You would have done a lot better buying an index fund, since the stock has dropped 55% in that half decade.

The recent uptick of 13% could be a positive sign of things to come, so let's take a look at historical fundamentals.

Check out our latest analysis for I.D.I. Insurance

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...' 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.

Looking back five years, both I.D.I. Insurance's share price and EPS declined; the latter at a rate of 14% per year. Notably, the share price has fallen at 15% per year, fairly close to the change in the EPS. This suggests that market participants have not changed their view of the company all that much. Rather, the share price has approximately tracked EPS growth.

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

This free interactive report on I.D.I. Insurance's earnings, revenue and cash flow is a great place to start, if you want to investigate the stock further.

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. So for companies that pay a generous dividend, the TSR is often a lot higher than the share price return. We note that for I.D.I. Insurance the TSR over the last 5 years was -41%, which is better than the share price return mentioned above. This is largely a result of its dividend payments!

A Different Perspective

We're pleased to report that I.D.I. Insurance shareholders have received a total shareholder return of 8.5% over one year. And that does include the dividend. Notably the five-year annualised TSR loss of 7% per year compares very unfavourably with the recent share price performance. This makes us a little wary, but the business might have turned around its fortunes. I find it very interesting to look at share price over the long term as a proxy for business performance. But to truly gain insight, we need to consider other information, too. Case in point: We've spotted 4 warning signs for I.D.I. Insurance you should be aware of, and 1 of them is a bit concerning.

But note: I.D.I. Insurance 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 Israeli 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.