It is a pleasure to report that the Dutch Lady Milk Industries Berhad (KLSE:DLADY) is up 32% in the last quarter. But if you look at the last five years the returns have not been good. In fact, the share price is down 52%, which falls well short of the return you could get by buying an index fund.

While the last five years has been tough for Dutch Lady Milk Industries Berhad shareholders, this past week has shown signs of promise. So let's look at the longer term fundamentals and see if they've been the driver of the negative returns.

See our latest analysis for Dutch Lady Milk Industries Berhad

In his essay The Superinvestors of Graham-and-Doddsville Warren Buffett described how share prices do not always rationally reflect the value of a business. 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 over which the share price declined, Dutch Lady Milk Industries Berhad's earnings per share (EPS) dropped by 11% each year. Readers should note that the share price has fallen faster than the EPS, at a rate of 14% per year, over the period. So it seems the market was too confident about the business, in the past.

You can see below how EPS has changed over time (discover the exact values by clicking on the image).

We know that Dutch Lady Milk Industries Berhad has improved its bottom line lately, but is it going to grow revenue? If you're interested, you could check this free report showing consensus revenue forecasts.

What About Dividends?

When looking at investment returns, it is important to consider the difference between total shareholder return (TSR) and share price return. The TSR is a return calculation that accounts for the value of cash dividends (assuming that any dividend received was reinvested) and the calculated value of any discounted capital raisings and spin-offs. Arguably, the TSR gives a more comprehensive picture of the return generated by a stock. As it happens, Dutch Lady Milk Industries Berhad's TSR for the last 5 years was -48%, which exceeds the share price return mentioned earlier. The dividends paid by the company have thusly boosted the total shareholder return.

A Different Perspective

It's nice to see that Dutch Lady Milk Industries Berhad shareholders have received a total shareholder return of 18% over the last year. Of course, that includes the dividend. Notably the five-year annualised TSR loss of 8% per year compares very unfavourably with the recent share price performance. We generally put more weight on the long term performance over the short term, but the recent improvement could hint at a (positive) inflection point within the business. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Dutch Lady Milk Industries Berhad better, we need to consider many other factors. For example, we've discovered 1 warning sign for Dutch Lady Milk Industries Berhad that you should be aware of before investing here.