We think all investors should try to buy and hold high quality multi-year winners. And we've seen some truly amazing gains over the years. To wit, the Teekay Tankers Ltd. (NYSE:TNK) share price has soared 637% over five years. If that doesn't get you thinking about long term investing, we don't know what will. On top of that, the share price is up 10% in about a quarter. But this could be related to the strong market, which is up 9.1% in the last three months. Anyone who held for that rewarding ride would probably be keen to talk about it.

With that in mind, it's worth seeing if the company's underlying fundamentals have been the driver of long term performance, or if there are some discrepancies.

Check out our latest analysis for Teekay Tankers

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.

During the last half decade, Teekay Tankers became profitable. Sometimes, the start of profitability is a major inflection point that can signal fast earnings growth to come, which in turn justifies very strong share price gains. Given that the company made a profit three years ago, but not five years ago, it is worth looking at the share price returns over the last three years, too. Indeed, the Teekay Tankers share price has gained 303% in three years. During the same period, EPS grew by 80% each year. This EPS growth is higher than the 59% average annual increase in the share price over the same three years. So you might conclude the market is a little more cautious about the stock, these days. This unenthusiastic sentiment is reflected in the stock's reasonably modest P/E ratio of 3.78.

The company's earnings per share (over time) is depicted in the image below (click to see the exact numbers).

 earnings-per-share-growth

It is of course excellent to see how Teekay Tankers has grown profits over the years, but the future is more important for shareholders. It might be well worthwhile taking a look at our freereport on how its financial position has changed over time.

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. So for companies that pay a generous dividend, the TSR is often a lot higher than the share price return. We note that for Teekay Tankers the TSR over the last 5 years was 672%, which is better than the share price return mentioned above. This is largely a result of its dividend payments!

A Different Perspective

It's good to see that Teekay Tankers has rewarded shareholders with a total shareholder return of 36% in the last twelve months. And that does include the dividend. However, that falls short of the 50% TSR per annum it has made for shareholders, each year, over five years. 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. To that end, you should learn about the  2 warning signs  we've spotted with Teekay Tankers (including 1 which is a bit concerning) .

We will like Teekay Tankers better if we see some big insider buys. While we wait, check out this freelist of growing companies with considerable, recent, insider buying.

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

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content?Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.

This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.