The total return for Heubach Colorants India (NSE:HEUBACHIND) investors has risen faster than earnings growth over the last five years

The Heubach Colorants India Limited (NSE:HEUBACHIND) share price has had a bad week, falling 11%. On the bright side the share price is up over the last half decade. Unfortunately its return of 54% is below the market return of 205%.

While the stock has fallen 11% this week, it's worth focusing on the longer term and seeing if the stocks historical returns have been driven by the underlying fundamentals.

View our latest analysis for Heubach Colorants India

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 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.

Over half a decade, Heubach Colorants India managed to grow its earnings per share at 8.5% a year. This EPS growth is reasonably close to the 9% average annual increase in the share price. Therefore one could conclude that sentiment towards the shares hasn't morphed very much. Indeed, it would appear the share price is reacting to the EPS.

You can see below how EPS has changed over time (discover the exact values by clicking on the image).

It might be well worthwhile taking a look at our free report on Heubach Colorants India's earnings, revenue and cash flow.

What About The Total Shareholder Return (TSR)?

We've already covered Heubach Colorants India's share price action, but we should also mention its 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. Heubach Colorants India's TSR of 142% for the 5 years exceeded its share price return, because it has paid dividends.

A Different Perspective

Heubach Colorants India shareholders are up 5.9% for the year. Unfortunately this falls short of the market return. On the bright side, the longer term returns (running at about 19% a year, over half a decade) look better. Maybe the share price is just taking a breather while the business executes on its growth strategy. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Heubach Colorants India better, we need to consider many other factors. Even so, be aware that Heubach Colorants India is showing 2 warning signs in our investment analysis , and 1 of those shouldn't be ignored...

If you like to buy stocks alongside management, then you might just love this free list of companies. (Hint: many of them are unnoticed AND have attractive valuation).

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