By buying an index fund, investors can approximate the average market return. But many of us dare to dream of bigger returns, and build a portfolio ourselves. For example, the OCI N.V. (AMS:OCI) share price is up 31% in the last three years, clearly besting the market return of around 13% (not including dividends). However, more recent returns haven't been as impressive as that, with the stock returning just 1.4% in the last year , including dividends .

So let's assess the underlying fundamentals over the last 3 years and see if they've moved in lock-step with shareholder returns.

See our latest analysis for OCI

OCI isn't currently profitable, so most analysts would look to revenue growth to get an idea of how fast the underlying business is growing. Shareholders of unprofitable companies usually expect strong revenue growth. Some companies are willing to postpone profitability to grow revenue faster, but in that case one does expect good top-line growth.

Over the last three years OCI has grown its revenue at 12% annually. That's pretty nice growth. The share price gain of 9% per year shows that the market is paying attention to this growth. If that's the case, then it could be well worth while to research the growth trajectory. Keep in mind that the strength of the balance sheet impacts the options open to the company.

The company's revenue and earnings (over time) are depicted in the image below (click to see the exact numbers).

If you are thinking of buying or selling OCI stock, you should check out this FREE detailed report on its balance sheet.

What About Dividends?

When looking at investment returns, it is important to consider the difference between total shareholder return (TSR) and share price return. 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. So for companies that pay a generous dividend, the TSR is often a lot higher than the share price return. As it happens, OCI's TSR for the last 3 years was 76%, which exceeds the share price return mentioned earlier. And there's no prize for guessing that the dividend payments largely explain the divergence!

A Different Perspective

OCI provided a TSR of 1.4% over the last twelve months. But that was short of the market average. If we look back over five years, the returns are even better, coming in at 7% per year for five years. It's quite possible the business continues to execute with prowess, even as the share price gains are slowing. 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. For instance, we've identified 2 warning signs for OCI that you should be aware of.