MAAS Group Holdings Limited (ASX:MGH) shareholders should be happy to see the share price up 24% in the last quarter. But in truth the last year hasn't been good for the share price. In fact, the price has declined 31% in a year, falling short of the returns you could get by investing in an index fund.

It's worthwhile assessing if the company's economics have been moving in lockstep with these underwhelming shareholder returns, or if there is some disparity between the two. So let's do just that.

View our latest analysis for MAAS Group Holdings

To quote Buffett, 'Ships will sail around the world but the Flat Earth Society will flourish. There will continue to be wide discrepancies between price and value in the marketplace...' 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 unfortunate twelve months during which the MAAS Group Holdings share price fell, it actually saw its earnings per share (EPS) improve by 49%. Of course, the situation might betray previous over-optimism about growth.

It's surprising to see the share price fall so much, despite the improved EPS. So it's well worth checking out some other metrics, too.

With a low yield of 1.8% we doubt that the dividend influences the share price much. MAAS Group Holdings' revenue is actually up 86% over the last year. Since the fundamental metrics don't readily explain the share price drop, there might be an opportunity if the market has overreacted.

The graphic below depicts how earnings and revenue have changed over time (unveil the exact values by clicking on the image).

It's good to see that there was some significant insider buying in the last three months. That's a positive. On the other hand, we think the revenue and earnings trends are much more meaningful measures of the business. So we recommend checking out this free report showing consensus forecasts

A Different Perspective

While MAAS Group Holdings shareholders are down 30% for the year (even including dividends), the market itself is up 5.7%. While the aim is to do better than that, it's worth recalling that even great long-term investments sometimes underperform for a year or more. Putting aside the last twelve months, it's good to see the share price has rebounded by 24%, in the last ninety days. Let's just hope this isn't the widely-feared 'dead cat bounce' (which would indicate further declines to come). While it is well worth considering the different impacts that market conditions can have on the share price, there are other factors that are even more important. For example, we've discovered 3 warning signs for MAAS Group Holdings (2 are potentially serious!) that you should be aware of before investing here.