Generally speaking the aim of active stock picking is to find companies that provide returns that are superior to the market average. And while active stock picking involves risks (and requires diversification) it can also provide excess returns. For example, long term GDI Integrated Facility Services Inc. (TSE:GDI) shareholders have enjoyed a 59% share price rise over the last half decade, well in excess of the market return of around 31% (not including dividends).

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.

Check out our latest analysis for GDI Integrated Facility Services

There is no denying that markets are sometimes efficient, but prices do not always reflect underlying business performance. By comparing earnings per share (EPS) and share price changes over time, we can get a feel for how investor attitudes to a company have morphed over time.

Over half a decade, GDI Integrated Facility Services managed to grow its earnings per share at 7.1% a year. This EPS growth is slower than the share price growth of 10% per year, over the same period. This suggests that market participants hold the company in higher regard, these days. And that's hardly shocking given the track record of growth. This favorable sentiment is reflected in its (fairly optimistic) P/E ratio of 48.11.

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

This free interactive report on GDI Integrated Facility Services' earnings, revenue and cash flow is a great place to start, if you want to investigate the stock further.

A Different Perspective

While the broader market gained around 7.6% in the last year, GDI Integrated Facility Services shareholders lost 13%. Even the share prices of good stocks drop sometimes, but we want to see improvements in the fundamental metrics of a business, before getting too interested. On the bright side, long term shareholders have made money, with a gain of 10% per year over half a decade. It could be that the recent sell-off is an opportunity, so it may be worth checking the fundamental data for signs of a long term growth trend. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand GDI Integrated Facility Services better, we need to consider many other factors. Like risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 2 warning signs for GDI Integrated Facility Services (of which 1 makes us a bit uncomfortable!) you should know about.