It's nice to see the

CanWel Building Materials Group Ltd.

(

TSE:CWX

) share price up 14% in a week. But that cannot eclipse the less-than-impressive returns over the last three years. After all,like a product that's coming crossword clue the share price is down 40% in the last three years, significantly under-performing the market.

View our latest analysis for CanWel Building Materials Group

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.

CanWel Building Materials Group saw its EPS decline at a compound rate of 36% per year, over the last three years. This fall in the EPS is worse than the 16% compound annual share price fall. So, despite the prior disappointment, shareholders must have some confidence the situation will improve, longer term.

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

TSX:CWX Past and Future Earnings May 1st 2020

It's good to see that there was some significant insider buying in the last three months. That's a positive. That said, we think earnings and revenue growth trends are even more important factors to consider. It might be well worthwhile taking a look at our

free

report on CanWel Building Materials Group's earnings, revenue and cash flow

.

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 incorporates the value of any spin-offs or discounted capital raisings, along with any dividends, based on the assumption that the dividends are reinvested. It's fair to say that the TSR gives a more complete picture for stocks that pay a dividend. In the case of CanWel Building Materials Group, it has a TSR of -19% for the last 3 years. That exceeds its share price return that we previously mentioned. This is largely a result of its dividend payments!

A Different Perspective

We regret to report that CanWel Building Materials Group shareholders are down 19% for the year (even including dividends) . Unfortunately, that's worse than the broader market decline of 9.3%. However, it could simply be that the share price has been impacted by broader market jitters. It might be worth keeping an eye on the fundamentals, in case there's a good opportunity. Longer term investors wouldn't be so upset, since they would have made 0.9%, each year, over five years. 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. Even so, be aware that

CanWel Building Materials Group is showing

5 warning signs in our investment analysis

, and 3 of those are concerning...

Story continues

CanWel Building Materials Group is not the only stock insiders are buying. So take a peek at this

free

list of growing companies with insider buying.

Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on CA exchanges.

If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at

[email protected]

. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned.

We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Thank you for reading.

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