It hasn't been the best quarter for Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) shareholders, since the share price has fallen 19% in that time. On the other hand the share price is higher than it was three years ago. However, it's unlikely many shareholders are elated with the share price gain of 22% over that time, given the rising market.

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

To paraphrase Benjamin Graham: Over the short term the market is a voting machine, but over the long term it's a weighing machine. 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.

During the three years of share price growth, Amgen actually saw its earnings per share (EPS) drop 7.0% per year.

So we doubt that the market is looking to EPS for its main judge of the company's value. Therefore, we think it's worth considering other metrics as well.

It could be that the revenue growth of 6.8% per year is viewed as evidence that Amgen is growing. If the company is being managed for the long term good, today's shareholders might be right to hold on.

The image below shows how earnings and revenue have tracked over time (if you click on the image you can see greater detail).

Amgen is well known by investors, and plenty of clever analysts have tried to predict the future profit levels. You can see what analysts are predicting for Amgen in this interactive graph of future profit estimates.

What About Dividends?

It is important to consider the total shareholder return, as well as the share price return, for any given stock. 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. Arguably, the TSR gives a more comprehensive picture of the return generated by a stock. As it happens, Amgen's TSR for the last 3 years was 34%, 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

Amgen shareholders are up 1.2% for the year (even including dividends). But that was short of the market average. If we look back over five years, the returns are even better, coming in at 5% per year for 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. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Amgen better, we need to consider many other factors. Even so, be aware that Amgen is showing 4 warning signs in our investment analysis , and 1 of those is significant...

But note: Amgen may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies with past earnings growth (and further growth forecast).

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.