Vanguard founder Jack Bogle helped spearhead the low-cost index fund, putting average returns within reach of every investor. But if you pick the right individual stocks, you could make more than that. To wit, Conagra Brands, Inc. (NYSE:CAG) shares are up 29% in three years, besting the market return. In contrast, the stock is actually down 4.3% in the last year, suggesting a lack of positive momentum.

The past week has proven to be lucrative for Conagra Brands investors, so let's see if fundamentals drove the company's three-year performance.

Check out our latest analysis for Conagra Brands

To paraphrase Benjamin Graham: Over the short term the market is a voting machine, but over the long term it's a weighing machine. One imperfect but simple way to consider how the market perception of a company has shifted is to compare the change in the earnings per share (EPS) with the share price movement.

During three years of share price growth, Conagra Brands achieved compound earnings per share growth of 14% per year. This EPS growth is higher than the 9% average annual increase in the share price. So it seems investors have become more cautious about the company, over time.

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

We consider it positive that insiders have made significant purchases in the last year. Having said that, most people consider earnings and revenue growth trends to be a more meaningful guide to the business. 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 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, Conagra Brands' TSR for the last 3 years was 41%, which exceeds the share price return mentioned earlier. The dividends paid by the company have thusly boosted the total shareholder return.

A Different Perspective

Although it hurts that Conagra Brands returned a loss of 0.8% in the last twelve months, the broader market was actually worse, returning a loss of 17%. Longer term investors wouldn't be so upset, since they would have made 2%, each year, over five years. In the best case scenario the last year is just a temporary blip on the journey to a brighter future. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Conagra Brands better, we need to consider many other factors. Even so, be aware that Conagra Brands is showing 3 warning signs in our investment analysis , and 1 of those is a bit concerning...

If you like to buy stocks alongside management, then you might just love this free list of companies. (Hint: insiders have been buying them).

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