CSC Steel Holdings Berhad's (KLSE:CSCSTEL) investors will be pleased with their favorable 54% return over the last five years

Stock pickers are generally looking for stocks that will outperform the broader market. And in our experience, buying the right stocks can give your wealth a significant boost. To wit, the CSC Steel Holdings Berhad share price has climbed 19% in five years, easily topping the market decline of 3.7% (ignoring dividends). On the other hand, the more recent gains haven't been so impressive, with shareholders gaining just 9.0% , including dividends .

So let's assess the underlying fundamentals over the last 5 years and see if they've moved in lock-step with shareholder returns.

View our latest analysis for CSC Steel Holdings Berhad

While markets are a powerful pricing mechanism, share prices reflect investor sentiment, not just 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, CSC Steel Holdings Berhad actually saw its EPS drop 0.07% per year.

Since EPS is down a bit, and the share price is up, it's probably that the market previously had some concerns about the company, but the reality has been better than feared. In the long term, though, it will be hard for the share price rises to continue without improving EPS.

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

Dive deeper into CSC Steel Holdings Berhad's key metrics by checking this interactive graph of CSC Steel Holdings Berhad's earnings, revenue and cash flow.

What About Dividends?

As well as measuring the share price return, investors should also consider the total shareholder return (TSR). 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. It's fair to say that the TSR gives a more complete picture for stocks that pay a dividend. As it happens, CSC Steel Holdings Berhad's TSR for the last 5 years was 54%, which exceeds the share price return mentioned earlier. This is largely a result of its dividend payments!

A Different Perspective

It's good to see that CSC Steel Holdings Berhad has rewarded shareholders with a total shareholder return of 9.0% in the last twelve months. Of course, that includes the dividend. However, the TSR over five years, coming in at 9% per year, is even more impressive. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand CSC Steel Holdings Berhad better, we need to consider many other factors. Case in point: We've spotted 1 warning sign for CSC Steel Holdings Berhad you should be aware of.

Of course CSC Steel Holdings Berhad may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see this free collection of growth stocks.

Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on Malaysian 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.