CapitaLand India Trust (SGX:CY6U) shareholders should be happy to see the share price up 12% 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 26%, which falls well short of the return you could get by buying an index fund.

Since shareholders are down over the longer term, lets look at the underlying fundamentals over the that time and see if they've been consistent with returns.

See our latest analysis for CapitaLand India Trust

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 five years over which the share price declined, CapitaLand India Trust's earnings per share (EPS) dropped by 6.3% each year. This change in EPS is reasonably close to the 6% average annual decrease in the share price. This suggests that market participants have not changed their view of the company all that much. So it's fair to say the share price has been responding to changes in EPS.

The graphic below depicts how EPS has changed over time (unveil the exact values by clicking on the image).

We know that CapitaLand India Trust has improved its bottom line lately, but is it going to grow revenue? Check if analysts think CapitaLand India Trust will grow revenue in the future.

What About Dividends?

As well as measuring the share price return, investors should also consider the total shareholder return (TSR). 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. We note that for CapitaLand India Trust the TSR over the last 5 years was 2.0%, which is better than the share price return mentioned above. This is largely a result of its dividend payments!

A Different Perspective

CapitaLand India Trust shareholders gained a total return of 15% during the year. But that was short of the market average. On the bright side, that's still a gain, and it's actually better than the average return of 0.4% over half a decade This suggests the company might be improving over time. 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. Even so, be aware that CapitaLand India Trust is showing 3 warning signs in our investment analysis , and 1 of those doesn't sit too well with us...