When you buy and hold a stock for the long term, you definitely want it to provide a positive return. Furthermore, you'd generally like to see the share price rise faster than the market. But US Foods Holding Corp. (NYSE:USFD) has fallen short of that second goal, with a share price rise of 53% over five years, which is below the market return. Some buyers are laughing, though, with an increase of 51% in the last year.

Now it's worth having a look at the company's fundamentals too, because that will help us determine if the long term shareholder return has matched the performance of the underlying business.

While the efficient markets hypothesis continues to be taught by some, it has been proven that markets are over-reactive dynamic systems, and investors are not always rational. 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 five years of share price growth, US Foods Holding moved from a loss to profitability. That would generally be considered a positive, so we'd hope to see the share price to rise.

The graphic below depicts how EPS has changed over time (unveil the exact values by clicking on the image).

It is of course excellent to see how US Foods Holding has grown profits over the years, but the future is more important for shareholders. If you are thinking of buying or selling US Foods Holding stock, you should check out this FREE detailed report on its balance sheet.

A Different Perspective

It's good to see that US Foods Holding has rewarded shareholders with a total shareholder return of 51% in the last twelve months. Since the one-year TSR is better than the five-year TSR (the latter coming in at 9% per year), it would seem that the stock's performance has improved in recent times. Someone with an optimistic perspective could view the recent improvement in TSR as indicating that the business itself is getting better with time. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand US Foods Holding better, we need to consider many other factors. Consider risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 2 warning signs for US Foods Holding you should know about.

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 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.