Star Media Group Berhad (KLSE:STAR) shareholders should be happy to see the share price up 26% in the last quarter. But that is little comfort to those holding over the last half decade, sitting on a big loss. The share price has failed to impress anyone , down a sizable 59% during that time. Some might say the recent bounce is to be expected after such a bad drop. We'd err towards caution given the long term under-performance.

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.

See our latest analysis for Star Media Group 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. 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.

Star Media Group Berhad became profitable within the last five years. That would generally be considered a positive, so we are surprised to see the share price is down. Other metrics might give us a better handle on how its value is changing over time.

It could be that the revenue decline of 20% per year is viewed as evidence that Star Media Group Berhad is shrinking. This has probably encouraged some shareholders to sell down the stock.

You can see how earnings and revenue have changed over time in the image below (click on the chart to see the exact values).

We know that Star Media Group Berhad has improved its bottom line lately, but what does the future have in store? This free report showing analyst forecasts should help you form a view on Star Media Group Berhad

What About Dividends?

It is important to consider the total shareholder return, as well as the share price return, for any given stock. 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. It's fair to say that the TSR gives a more complete picture for stocks that pay a dividend. In the case of Star Media Group Berhad, it has a TSR of -54% for the last 5 years. That exceeds its share price return that we previously mentioned. This is largely a result of its dividend payments!

A Different Perspective

It's nice to see that Star Media Group Berhad shareholders have received a total shareholder return of 49% over the last year. And that does include the dividend. Notably the five-year annualised TSR loss of 9% per year compares very unfavourably with the recent share price performance. This makes us a little wary, but the business might have turned around its fortunes. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Star Media Group Berhad better, we need to consider many other factors. For instance, we've identified 3 warning signs for Star Media Group Berhad (1 can't be ignored) that you should be aware of.