Dah Sing Banking Group Limited (HKG:2356) shareholders will doubtless be very grateful to see the share price up 42% in the last quarter. But if you look at the last five years the returns have not been good. After all, the share price is down 55% in that time, significantly under-performing the market.

The recent uptick of 4.5% could be a positive sign of things to come, so let's take a look at historical fundamentals.

While markets are a powerful pricing mechanism, share prices reflect investor sentiment, not just underlying business performance. 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.

Looking back five years, both Dah Sing Banking Group's share price and EPS declined; the latter at a rate of 5.6% per year. This reduction in EPS is less than the 15% annual reduction in the share price. This implies that the market was previously too optimistic about the stock. The less favorable sentiment is reflected in its current P/E ratio of 5.05.

The image below shows how EPS has tracked over time (if you click on the image you can see greater detail).

We know that Dah Sing Banking Group has improved its bottom line lately, but is it going to grow revenue? If you're interested, you could check this free report showing consensus revenue forecasts.

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 incorporates the value of any spin-offs or discounted capital raisings, along with any dividends, based on the assumption that the dividends are reinvested. It's fair to say that the TSR gives a more complete picture for stocks that pay a dividend. As it happens, Dah Sing Banking Group's TSR for the last 5 years was -42%, 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

It's good to see that Dah Sing Banking Group has rewarded shareholders with a total shareholder return of 12% in the last twelve months. That's including the dividend. That certainly beats the loss of about 7% per year over the last half decade. This makes us a little wary, but the business might have turned around its fortunes. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Dah Sing Banking Group better, we need to consider many other factors. To that end, you should be aware of the 1 warning sign we've spotted with Dah Sing Banking Group .

But note: Dah Sing Banking Group 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 Hong Kong 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.