Passive investing in an index fund is a good way to ensure your own returns roughly match the overall market. But if you buy individual stocks, you can do both better or worse than that. Investors in Bank Islam Malaysia Berhad (KLSE:BIMB) have tasted that bitter downside in the last year, as the share price dropped 12%. That falls noticeably short of the market return of around 6.6%. We wouldn't rush to judgement on Bank Islam Malaysia Berhad because we don't have a long term history to look at.

So let's have a look and see if the longer term performance of the company has been in line with the underlying business' progress.

See our latest analysis for Bank Islam Malaysia Berhad

In his essay The Superinvestors of Graham-and-Doddsville Warren Buffett described how share prices do not always rationally reflect the value of a business. 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).

Even though the Bank Islam Malaysia Berhad share price is down over the year, its EPS actually improved. It could be that the share price was previously over-hyped.

It's surprising to see the share price fall so much, despite the improved EPS. But we might find some different metrics explain the share price movements better.

Bank Islam Malaysia Berhad's dividend seems healthy to us, so we doubt that the yield is a concern for the market. The revenue trend doesn't seem to explain why the share price is down. Unless, of course, the market was expecting a revenue uptick.

You can see below how earnings and revenue have changed over time (discover the exact values by clicking on the image).

We know that Bank Islam Malaysia Berhad has improved its bottom line lately, but what does the future have in store? This free report showing analyst forecasts should help you form a view on Bank Islam Malaysia Berhad

What About Dividends?

As well as measuring the share price return, investors should also consider the total shareholder return (TSR). 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. It's fair to say that the TSR gives a more complete picture for stocks that pay a dividend. In the case of Bank Islam Malaysia Berhad, it has a TSR of -2.3% for the last 1 year. That exceeds its share price return that we previously mentioned. This is largely a result of its dividend payments!

A Different Perspective

Given that the market gained 6.6% in the last year, Bank Islam Malaysia Berhad shareholders might be miffed that they lost 2.3% (even including dividends). While the aim is to do better than that, it's worth recalling that even great long-term investments sometimes underperform for a year or more. Putting aside the last twelve months, it's good to see the share price has rebounded by 5.6%, in the last ninety days. This could just be a bounce because the selling was too aggressive, but fingers crossed it's the start of a new 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. To that end, you should be aware of the 2 warning signs we've spotted with Bank Islam Malaysia Berhad .