It hasn't been the best quarter for A10 Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ATEN) shareholders, since the share price has fallen 12% in that time. But the silver lining is the stock is up over five years. In that time, it is up 93%, which isn't bad, but is below the market return of 105%.

Let's take a look at the underlying fundamentals over the longer term, and see if they've been consistent with shareholders returns.

Check out our latest analysis for A10 Networks

While markets are a powerful pricing mechanism, share prices reflect investor sentiment, not just underlying business performance. 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, A10 Networks moved from a loss to profitability. That would generally be considered a positive, so we'd hope to see the share price to rise. Since the company was unprofitable five years ago, but not three years ago, it's worth taking a look at the returns in the last three years, too. We can see that the A10 Networks share price is down 7.7% in the last three years. In the same period, EPS is up 24% per year. So there seems to be a mismatch between the positive EPS growth and the change in the share price, which is down -2.6% per year.

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

Dive deeper into A10 Networks' key metrics by checking this interactive graph of A10 Networks's earnings, revenue and cash flow.

What About Dividends?

When looking at investment returns, it is important to consider the difference between total shareholder return (TSR) and share price return. The TSR incorporates the value of any spin-offs or discounted capital raisings, along with any dividends, based on the assumption that the dividends are reinvested. So for companies that pay a generous dividend, the TSR is often a lot higher than the share price return. We note that for A10 Networks the TSR over the last 5 years was 102%, which is better than the share price return mentioned above. The dividends paid by the company have thusly boosted the total shareholder return.

A Different Perspective

A10 Networks shareholders are down 7.2% for the year (even including dividends), but the market itself is up 28%. However, keep in mind that even the best stocks will sometimes underperform the market over a twelve month period. Longer term investors wouldn't be so upset, since they would have made 15%, each year, over five years. If the fundamental data continues to indicate long term sustainable growth, the current sell-off could be an opportunity worth considering. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand A10 Networks better, we need to consider many other factors. For instance, we've identified 1 warning sign for A10 Networks that you should be aware of.