It hasn't been the best quarter for Biglari Holdings Inc. (NYSE:BH.A) shareholders, since the share price has fallen 27% in that time. But that shouldn't obscure the pleasing returns achieved by shareholders over the last three years. After all, the share price is up a market-beating 60% in that time.

In light of the stock dropping 12% in the past week, we want to investigate the longer term story, and see if fundamentals have been the driver of the company's positive three-year return.

See our latest analysis for Biglari Holdings

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 three years of share price growth, Biglari Holdings moved from a loss to profitability. That would generally be considered a positive, so we'd expect the share price to be up.

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

It's probably worth noting that the CEO is paid less than the median at similar sized companies. But while CEO remuneration is always worth checking, the really important question is whether the company can grow earnings going forward. This free interactive report on Biglari Holdings' earnings, revenue and cash flow is a great place to start, if you want to investigate the stock further.

A Different Perspective

Biglari Holdings provided a TSR of 21% over the year. That's fairly close to the broader market return. The silver lining is that the share price is up in the short term, which flies in the face of the annualised loss of 3% over the last five years. We're pretty skeptical of turnaround stories, but it's good to see the recent share price recovery. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Biglari Holdings better, we need to consider many other factors. To that end, you should learn about the 2 warning signs we've spotted with Biglari Holdings (including 1 which shouldn't be ignored) .

Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking elsewhere. So take a peek at this free list of companies we expect will grow earnings.

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.