Despite the downward trend in earnings at BCB Bancorp (NASDAQ:BCBP), the stock is up 10%, representing a one-year gain of 30%.

Over time, stock markets tend to move higher. This makes investments attractive. But not every stock you buy will perform as well as the overall market. Unfortunately for shareholders, while the BCB Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:BCBP) share price is up 22% in the last year, underperforming the market return. On the other hand, long-term shareholders had a harder time: the share price fell by 11% within three years.

The past week has proven to be lucrative for BCB Bancorp investors, so let’s see if fundamentals have influenced the company’s one-year performance.

Check out our latest analysis for BCB Bancorp

While markets are a powerful pricing mechanism, stock 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).

In the last twelve months, BCB Bancorp actually reduced its earnings per share by 51%.

Therefore, we don’t think investors pay too much attention to EPS. When earnings per share fall but the stock price rises, it often means the market is taking other factors into account.

We haven’t seen any increase in BCB Bancorp’s dividend payments yet, so the yield likely hasn’t helped push the stock higher. Sales fell by 21% within twelve months. Usually this is accompanied by a lower share price, but let’s face it, the market’s fluctuations are sometimes only as clear as mud.

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

We like that insiders have been buying shares in the last twelve months. Still, future profits will be far more important to whether current shareholders make money. So it makes a lot of sense to check what analysts think BCB Bancorp will earn in the future (free profit forecasts).

What about dividends?

In addition to 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. So for companies that pay a generous dividend, the TSR is often much higher than the share price return. In the case of BCB Bancorp, it has a TSR of 30% for the last year. This exceeds the share price return mentioned above. This is mainly due to the dividend payments!

A different perspective

BCB Bancorp provided a TSR of 30% over the last twelve months. Unfortunately, this falls short of the market return. On the bright side, that’s still a win, and even better than the average return of 5% over half a decade. This suggests the company could improve over time. I find it very interesting to look at the share price as an indicator of business development in the long term. But to gain real insight, we need to consider other information too. For example, take risks – BCB Bancorp has 1 warning sign We think you should be aware of this.

If you like buying stocks in addition to management, then you might like this free List of companies. (Note: Most of them fly under the radar).

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

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