On average, over time, stock markets tend to rise higher. This makes investing attractive. But not every stock you buy will perform as well as the overall market. Unfortunately for shareholders, while the BayCom Corp (NASDAQ:BCML) share price is up 19% in the last year, that falls short of the market return. The longer term returns have not been as good, with the stock price only 13% higher than it was three years ago.

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 BayCom

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.

During the last year BayCom grew its earnings per share (EPS) by 13%. The share price gain of 19% certainly outpaced the EPS growth. So it's fair to assume the market has a higher opinion of the business than it a year ago.

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

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

What About Dividends?

When looking at investment returns, it is important to consider the difference between total shareholder return (TSR) and share price return. Whereas the share price return only reflects the change in the share price, the TSR includes the value of dividends (assuming they were reinvested) and the benefit of any discounted capital raising or spin-off. So for companies that pay a generous dividend, the TSR is often a lot higher than the share price return. We note that for BayCom the TSR over the last 1 year was 21%, which is better than the share price return mentioned above. The dividends paid by the company have thusly boosted the total shareholder return.

A Different Perspective

BayCom shareholders are up 21% for the year (even including dividends). But that return falls short of the market. On the bright side, that's still a gain, and it is certainly better than the yearly loss of about 1.4% endured over half a decade. It could well be that the business is stabilizing. 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. Case in point: We've spotted 2 warning signs for BayCom you should be aware of, and 1 of them shouldn't be ignored.