While VERBIO Vereinigte BioEnergie AG (ETR:VBK) shareholders are probably generally happy, the stock hasn't had particularly good run recently, with the share price falling 26% in the last quarter. But that doesn't undermine the fantastic longer term performance (measured over five years). In that time, the share price has soared some 421% higher! Arguably, the recent fall is to be expected after such a strong rise. Of course what matters most is whether the business can improve itself sustainably, thus justifying a higher price. Unfortunately not all shareholders will have held it for the long term, so spare a thought for those caught in the 62% decline over the last twelve months.

Since it's been a strong week for VERBIO Vereinigte BioEnergie shareholders, let's have a look at trend of the longer term fundamentals.

Check out our latest analysis for VERBIO Vereinigte BioEnergie

There is no denying that markets are sometimes efficient, but prices do not always reflect underlying business performance. 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.

During five years of share price growth, VERBIO Vereinigte BioEnergie achieved compound earnings per share (EPS) growth of 54% per year. The EPS growth is more impressive than the yearly share price gain of 39% over the same period. So one could conclude that the broader market has become more cautious towards the stock.

The company's earnings per share (over time) is depicted in the image below (click to see the exact numbers).

Before buying or selling a stock, we always recommend a close examination of historic growth trends, available here.

What About Dividends?

It is important to consider the total shareholder return, as well as the share price return, for any given stock. The TSR is a return calculation that accounts for the value of cash dividends (assuming that any dividend received was reinvested) and the calculated value of any discounted capital raisings and spin-offs. Arguably, the TSR gives a more comprehensive picture of the return generated by a stock. In the case of VERBIO Vereinigte BioEnergie, it has a TSR of 451% for the last 5 years. That exceeds its share price return that we previously mentioned. This is largely a result of its dividend payments!

A Different Perspective

VERBIO Vereinigte BioEnergie shareholders are down 62% for the year (even including dividends), but the market itself is up 8.4%. Even the share prices of good stocks drop sometimes, but we want to see improvements in the fundamental metrics of a business, before getting too interested. On the bright side, long term shareholders have made money, with a gain of 41% per year over half a decade. 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 VERBIO Vereinigte BioEnergie better, we need to consider many other factors. Take risks, for example - VERBIO Vereinigte BioEnergie has 3 warning signs (and 1 which is significant) we think you should know about.