For many, the main point of investing in the stock market is to achieve spectacular returns. And we've seen some truly amazing gains over the years. Don't believe it? Then look at the Caribbean Investment Holdings Limited (LON:CIHL) share price. It's 339% higher than it was five years ago. If that doesn't get you thinking about long term investing, we don't know what will.

See our latest analysis for Caribbean Investment Holdings

There is no denying that markets are sometimes efficient, but prices do not always reflect underlying business performance. One flawed but reasonable way to assess how sentiment around a company has changed is to compare the earnings per share (EPS) with the share price.

We know that Caribbean Investment Holdings has been profitable in the past. However, it made a loss in the last twelve months, suggesting profit may be an unreliable metric at this stage. So we might find other metrics can better explain the share price movements.

We are not particularly impressed by the annual compound revenue growth of 1.2% over five years. So why is the share price up? It's not immediately obvious to us, but a closer look at the company's progress over time might yield answers.

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 Caribbean Investment Holdings' financial health with this free report on its balance sheet.

What about the Total Shareholder Return (TSR)?

We've already covered Caribbean Investment Holdings' share price action, but we should also mention its total shareholder return (TSR). The TSR attempts to capture the value of dividends (as if they were reinvested) as well as any spin-offs or discounted capital raisings offered to shareholders. Caribbean Investment Holdings' TSR of 423% for the 5 years exceeded its share price return, because it has paid dividends.

A Different Perspective

While the broader market gained around 32% in the last year, Caribbean Investment Holdings shareholders lost 5.6%. Even the share prices of good stocks drop sometimes, but we want to see improvements in the fundamental metrics of a business, before getting too interested. On the bright side, long term shareholders have made money, with a gain of 39% per year over half a decade. It could be that the recent sell-off is an opportunity, so it may be worth checking the fundamental data for signs of a long term growth trend. 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. For example, we've discovered 2 warning signs for Caribbean Investment Holdings that you should be aware of before investing here.