Despite shrinking by US$197m in the past week, Star Bulk Carriers (NASDAQ:SBLK) shareholders are still up 221% over 5 years

It hasn't been the best quarter for Star Bulk Carriers Corp. (NASDAQ:SBLK) shareholders, since the share price has fallen 13% in that time. But at least the stock is up over the last five years. In that time, it is up 91%, which isn't bad, but is below the market return of 111%.

Since the long term performance has been good but there's been a recent pullback of 7.3%, let's check if the fundamentals match the share price.

See our latest analysis for Star Bulk Carriers

To paraphrase Benjamin Graham: Over the short term the market is a voting machine, but over the long term it's a weighing machine. 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 the five years of share price growth, Star Bulk Carriers moved from a loss to profitability. That would generally be considered a positive, so we'd hope to see the share price to rise. Given that the company made a profit three years ago, but not five years ago, it is worth looking at the share price returns over the last three years, too. We can see that the Star Bulk Carriers share price is down 4.6% in the last three years. In the same period, EPS is up 1.2% per year. So there seems to be a mismatch between the positive EPS growth and the change in the share price, which is down -1.6% per year.

The graphic below depicts how EPS has changed over time (unveil the exact values by clicking on the image).

This free interactive report on Star Bulk Carriers' 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. It's fair to say that the TSR gives a more complete picture for stocks that pay a dividend. As it happens, Star Bulk Carriers' TSR for the last 5 years was 221%, which exceeds the share price return mentioned earlier. This is largely a result of its dividend payments!

A Different Perspective

Star Bulk Carriers shareholders gained a total return of 17% during the year. But that was short of the market average. It's probably a good sign that the company has an even better long term track record, having provided shareholders with an annual TSR of 26% over five years. It may well be that this is a business worth popping on the watching, given the continuing positive reception, over time, from the market. 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. Even so, be aware that Star Bulk Carriers is showing 3 warning signs in our investment analysis , you should know about...

Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking elsewhere. So take a peek at this free list of companies we expect will grow earnings.

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