By buying an index fund, investors can approximate the average market return. But many of us dare to dream of bigger returns, and build a portfolio ourselves. Just take a look at Anexo Group Plc (LON:ANX), which is up 28%, over three years, soundly beating the market decline of 1.9% (not including dividends). On the other hand, the returns haven't been quite so good recently, with shareholders up just 7.8% , including dividends .

Check out our latest analysis for Anexo Group

There is no denying that markets are sometimes efficient, but prices do not always reflect 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.

During the three years of share price growth, Anexo Group actually saw its earnings per share (EPS) drop 1.5% per year.

Based on these numbers, we think that the decline in earnings per share may not be a good representation of how the business has changed over the years. Therefore, it makes sense to look into other metrics.

The modest 1.0% dividend yield is unlikely to be propping up the share price. It could be that the revenue growth of 23% per year is viewed as evidence that Anexo Group is growing. In that case, the company may be sacrificing current earnings per share to drive growth, and maybe shareholder's faith in better days ahead will be rewarded.

The company's revenue and earnings (over time) are depicted in the image below (click to see the exact numbers).

Take a more thorough look at Anexo Group's financial health with this free report on its balance sheet.

What About Dividends?

When looking at investment returns, it is important to consider the difference between total shareholder return (TSR) and share price return. Whereas the share price return only reflects the change in the share price, the TSR includes the value of dividends (assuming they were reinvested) and the benefit of any discounted capital raising or spin-off. Arguably, the TSR gives a more comprehensive picture of the return generated by a stock. We note that for Anexo Group the TSR over the last 3 years was 32%, which is better than the share price return mentioned above. This is largely a result of its dividend payments!

A Different Perspective

Anexo Group produced a TSR of 7.8% over the last year. While you don't go broke making a profit, this return was actually lower than the average market return of about 22%. At least the longer term returns (running at about 10% a year, are better. We prefer focus on longer term returns, as they are usually a more meaningful indication of the underlying business. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Anexo 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 Anexo Group .