DFI Retail Group Holdings Limited (SGX:D01) shareholders should be happy to see the share price up 20% in the last month. But that is little comfort to those holding over the last half decade, sitting on a big loss. Indeed, the share price is down 63% in the period. So we're not so sure if the recent bounce should be celebrated. Of course, this could be the start of a turnaround.

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.

View our latest analysis for DFI Retail Group Holdings

While markets are a powerful pricing mechanism, share prices reflect investor sentiment, not just underlying business performance. 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).

DFI Retail Group Holdings became profitable within the last five years. That would generally be considered a positive, so we are surprised to see the share price is down. Other metrics might give us a better handle on how its value is changing over time.

Arguably, the revenue drop of 5.2% a year for half a decade suggests that the company can't grow in the long term. This has probably encouraged some shareholders to sell down the stock.

The image below shows how earnings and revenue have tracked over time (if you click on the image you can see greater detail).

We know that DFI Retail Group Holdings 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 DFI Retail Group Holdings

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 incorporates the value of any spin-offs or discounted capital raisings, along with any dividends, based on the assumption that the dividends are reinvested. So for companies that pay a generous dividend, the TSR is often a lot higher than the share price return. As it happens, DFI Retail Group Holdings' TSR for the last 5 years was -55%, which exceeds the share price return mentioned earlier. And there's no prize for guessing that the dividend payments largely explain the divergence!

A Different Perspective

DFI Retail Group Holdings shareholders are down 3.7% for the year (even including dividends), but the market itself is up 15%. However, keep in mind that even the best stocks will sometimes underperform the market over a twelve month period. Unfortunately, longer term shareholders are suffering worse, given the loss of 9% doled out over the last five years. We would want clear information suggesting the company will grow, before taking the view that the share price will stabilize. 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. Like risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 2 warning signs for DFI Retail Group Holdings (of which 1 is potentially serious!) you should know about.