When you buy and hold a stock for the long term, you definitely want it to provide a positive return. Furthermore, you'd generally like to see the share price rise faster than the market. Unfortunately for shareholders, while the Civeo Corporation (NYSE:CVEO) share price is up 72% in the last five years, that's less than the market return. However, more recent buyers should be happy with the increase of 55% over the last year.

Now it's worth having a look at the company's fundamentals too, because that will help us determine if the long term shareholder return has matched the performance of the underlying business.

See our latest analysis for Civeo

To paraphrase Benjamin Graham: Over the short term the market is a voting machine, but over the long term it's a weighing machine. One way to examine how market sentiment has changed over time is to look at the interaction between a company's share price and its earnings per share (EPS).

During the five years of share price growth, Civeo moved from a loss to profitability. That's generally thought to be a genuine positive, so investors may expect to see an increasing share price.

You can see how EPS has changed over time in the image below (click on the chart to see the exact values).

It is of course excellent to see how Civeo has grown profits over the years, but the future is more important for shareholders. This free interactive report on Civeo's balance sheet strength is a great place to start, if you want to investigate the stock further.

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 Civeo the TSR over the last 5 years was 81%, which is better than the share price return mentioned above. This is largely a result of its dividend payments!

A Different Perspective

We're pleased to report that Civeo shareholders have received a total shareholder return of 64% over one year. That's including the dividend. That's better than the annualised return of 13% over half a decade, implying that the company is doing better recently. Given the share price momentum remains strong, it might be worth taking a closer look at the stock, lest you miss an opportunity. 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 Civeo is showing 4 warning signs in our investment analysis , and 1 of those makes us a bit uncomfortable...