This month, we saw the Anglo Asian Mining PLC (LON:AAZ) up an impressive 66%. But that doesn't change the fact that the returns over the last three years have been less than pleasing. In fact, the share price is down 43% in the last three years, falling well short of the market return.

Now let's have a look at the company's fundamentals, and see if the long term shareholder return has matched the performance of the underlying business.

Check out our latest analysis for Anglo Asian Mining

While markets are a powerful pricing mechanism, share prices reflect investor sentiment, not just underlying business performance. 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.

Anglo Asian Mining saw its EPS decline at a compound rate of 64% per year, over the last three years. In comparison the 17% compound annual share price decline isn't as bad as the EPS drop-off. So the market may not be too worried about the EPS figure, at the moment -- or it may have previously priced some of the drop in. This positive sentiment is also reflected in the generous P/E ratio of 106.63.

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

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

What About The Total Shareholder Return (TSR)?

We'd be remiss not to mention the difference between Anglo Asian Mining's total shareholder return (TSR) and its share price return. The TSR attempts to capture the value of dividends (as if they were reinvested) as well as any spin-offs or discounted capital raisings offered to shareholders. Its history of dividend payouts mean that Anglo Asian Mining's TSR, which was a 33% drop over the last 3 years, was not as bad as the share price return.

A Different Perspective

We regret to report that Anglo Asian Mining shareholders are down 9.5% for the year. Unfortunately, that's worse than the broader market decline of 0.3%. Having said that, it's inevitable that some stocks will be oversold in a falling market. The key is to keep your eyes on the fundamental developments. On the bright side, long term shareholders have made money, with a gain of 1.6% per year over half a decade. It could be that the recent sell-off is an opportunity, so it may be worth checking the fundamental data for signs of a long term growth trend. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Anglo Asian Mining better, we need to consider many other factors. Case in point: We've spotted 2 warning signs for Anglo Asian Mining you should be aware of, and 1 of them can't be ignored.