The most you can lose on any stock (assuming you don't use leverage) is 100% of your money. But on the bright side, if you buy shares in a high quality company at the right price, you can gain well over 100%. One great example is GR Engineering Services Limited (ASX:GNG) which saw its share price drive 181% higher over five years. It's also good to see the share price up 36% over the last quarter.

The past week has proven to be lucrative for GR Engineering Services investors, so let's see if fundamentals drove the company's five-year performance.

View our latest analysis for GR Engineering Services

While markets are a powerful pricing mechanism, share prices reflect investor sentiment, not just 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 five years of share price growth, GR Engineering Services achieved compound earnings per share (EPS) growth of 34% per year. The EPS growth is more impressive than the yearly share price gain of 23% over the same period. So it seems the market isn't so enthusiastic about the stock these days.

The image below shows how EPS has tracked over time (if you click on the image you can see greater detail).

This free interactive report on GR Engineering Services' earnings, revenue and cash flow 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. Arguably, the TSR gives a more comprehensive picture of the return generated by a stock. As it happens, GR Engineering Services' TSR for the last 5 years was 317%, which exceeds the share price return mentioned earlier. The dividends paid by the company have thusly boosted the total shareholder return.

A Different Perspective

It's nice to see that GR Engineering Services shareholders have received a total shareholder return of 28% over the last year. And that does include the dividend. Having said that, the five-year TSR of 33% a year, is even better. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand GR Engineering Services better, we need to consider many other factors. Take risks, for example - GR Engineering Services has 1 warning sign we think you should be aware of.

Of course GR Engineering Services may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see this free collection of growth stocks.

Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on Australian exchanges.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.