The main aim of stock picking is to find the market-beating stocks. But in any portfolio, there will be mixed results between individual stocks. At this point some shareholders may be questioning their investment in CJ Century Logistics Holdings Berhad (KLSE:CJCEN), since the last five years saw the share price fall 21%. But it's up 5.1% in the last week.

Now let's have a look at the company's fundamentals, and see if the long term shareholder return has matched the performance of the underlying business.

Check out our latest analysis for CJ Century Logistics Holdings Berhad

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. One way to examine how market sentiment has changed over time is to look at the interaction between a company's share price and its earnings per share (EPS).

During the unfortunate half decade during which the share price slipped, CJ Century Logistics Holdings Berhad actually saw its earnings per share (EPS) improve by 0.3% per year. So it doesn't seem like EPS is a great guide to understanding how the market is valuing the stock. Or possibly, the market was previously very optimistic, so the stock has disappointed, despite improving EPS.

Given that EPS has increased, but the share price has fallen, it's fair to say that market sentiment around the stock has become more negative. Generally speaking, though, if the company can keep growing EPS then the share price will eventually follow.

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

This free interactive report on CJ Century Logistics Holdings Berhad's earnings, revenue and cash flow is a great place to start, if you want to investigate the stock further.

What About Dividends?

As well as measuring the share price return, investors should also consider the total shareholder return (TSR). 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. So for companies that pay a generous dividend, the TSR is often a lot higher than the share price return. As it happens, CJ Century Logistics Holdings Berhad's TSR for the last 5 years was -18%, which exceeds the share price return mentioned earlier. This is largely a result of its dividend payments!

A Different Perspective

Investors in CJ Century Logistics Holdings Berhad had a tough year, with a total loss of 10% (including dividends), against a market gain of about 7.6%. However, keep in mind that even the best stocks will sometimes underperform the market over a twelve month period. Regrettably, last year's performance caps off a bad run, with the shareholders facing a total loss of 3% per year over five years. We realise that Baron Rothschild has said investors should "buy when there is blood on the streets", but we caution that investors should first be sure they are buying a high quality business. I find it very interesting to look at share price over the long term as a proxy for business performance. But to truly gain insight, we need to consider other information, too. Take risks, for example - CJ Century Logistics Holdings Berhad has 2 warning signs we think you should be aware of.