It hasn't been the best quarter for Comerica Incorporated (NYSE:CMA) shareholders, since the share price has fallen 15% in that time. But looking back over the last year, the returns have actually been rather pleasing! Looking at the full year, the company has easily bested an index fund by gaining 12%.

So let's assess the underlying fundamentals over the last 1 year and see if they've moved in lock-step with shareholder returns.

See our latest analysis for Comerica

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

Comerica was able to grow EPS by 16% in the last twelve months. It's fair to say that the share price gain of 12% did not keep pace with the EPS growth. So it seems like the market has cooled on Comerica, despite the growth. Interesting. This cautious sentiment is reflected in its (fairly low) P/E ratio of 9.98.

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

We know that Comerica has improved its bottom line lately, but is it going to grow revenue? You could check out this free report showing analyst revenue forecasts.

What About Dividends?

It is important to consider the total shareholder return, as well as the share price return, for any given stock. 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. So for companies that pay a generous dividend, the TSR is often a lot higher than the share price return. We note that for Comerica the TSR over the last 1 year was 16%, which is better than the share price return mentioned above. This is largely a result of its dividend payments!

A Different Perspective

We're pleased to report that Comerica shareholders have received a total shareholder return of 16% over one year. That's including the dividend. That gain is better than the annual TSR over five years, which is 4%. Therefore it seems like sentiment around the company has been positive lately. Someone with an optimistic perspective could view the recent improvement in TSR as indicating that the business itself is getting better with time. Before spending more time on Comerica it might be wise to click here to see if insiders have been buying or selling shares.