The five-year decline in earnings might be taking its toll on Sudarshan Chemical Industries (NSE:SUDARSCHEM) shareholders as stock falls 6.4% over the past week

While Sudarshan Chemical Industries Limited (NSE:SUDARSCHEM) shareholders are probably generally happy, the stock hasn't had particularly good run recently, with the share price falling 25% in the last quarter. But at least the stock is up over the last five years. In that time, it is up 97%, which isn't bad, but is below the market return of 149%.

While the stock has fallen 6.4% this week, it's worth focusing on the longer term and seeing if the stocks historical returns have been driven by the underlying fundamentals.

Check out our latest analysis for Sudarshan Chemical Industries

In his essay The Superinvestors of Graham-and-Doddsville Warren Buffett described how share prices do not always rationally reflect the value of a business. One flawed but reasonable way to assess how sentiment around a company has changed is to compare the earnings per share (EPS) with the share price.

Sudarshan Chemical Industries' earnings per share are down 7.3% per year, despite strong share price performance over five years.

Essentially, it doesn't seem likely that investors are focused on EPS. Since the change in EPS doesn't seem to correlate with the change in share price, it's worth taking a look at other metrics.

We doubt the modest 0.6% dividend yield is attracting many buyers to the stock. In contrast revenue growth of 10% per year is probably viewed as evidence that Sudarshan Chemical Industries is growing, a real positive. In that case, the company may be sacrificing current earnings per share to drive growth.

The image below shows how earnings and revenue have tracked over time (if you click on the image you can see greater detail).

We like that insiders have been buying shares in the last twelve months. Even so, future earnings will be far more important to whether current shareholders make money. If you are thinking of buying or selling Sudarshan Chemical Industries stock, you should check out this free report showing analyst profit forecasts.

What About Dividends?

It is important to consider the total shareholder return, as well as the share price return, for any given stock. 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. Arguably, the TSR gives a more comprehensive picture of the return generated by a stock. In the case of Sudarshan Chemical Industries, it has a TSR of 106% for the last 5 years. That exceeds its share price return that we previously mentioned. The dividends paid by the company have thusly boosted the total shareholder return.

A Different Perspective

It's nice to see that Sudarshan Chemical Industries shareholders have received a total shareholder return of 42% over the last year. Of course, that includes the dividend. That's better than the annualised return of 16% 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 Sudarshan Chemical Industries better, we need to consider many other factors. For example, we've discovered 2 warning signs for Sudarshan Chemical Industries that you should be aware of before investing here.

Sudarshan Chemical Industries is not the only stock that insiders are buying. For those who like to find lesser know companies this free list of growing companies with recent insider purchasing, could be just the ticket.

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.