The main point of investing for the long term is to make money. Better yet, you'd like to see the share price move up more than the market average. But Silvercrest Asset Management Group Inc. (NASDAQ:SAMG) has fallen short of that second goal, with a share price rise of 41% over five years, which is below the market return. Looking at the last year alone, the stock is up 8.1%.

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

See our latest analysis for Silvercrest Asset Management Group

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, Silvercrest Asset Management Group actually saw its EPS drop 2.8% per year.

So it's hard to argue that the earnings per share are the best metric to judge the company, as it may not be optimized for profits at this point. Since the change in EPS doesn't seem to correlate with the change in share price, it's worth taking a look at other metrics.

We note that the dividend is higher than it was previously - always nice to see. It could be that the company is reaching maturity and dividend investors are buying for the yield. The revenue growth of about 3.8% per year might also encourage buyers.

The graphic below depicts how earnings and revenue have changed over time (unveil the exact values by clicking on the image).

This free interactive report on Silvercrest Asset Management Group's balance sheet strength is a great place to start, if you want to investigate the stock further.

What About Dividends?

It is important to consider the total shareholder return, as well as the share price return, for any given stock. Whereas the share price return only reflects the change in the share price, the TSR includes the value of dividends (assuming they were reinvested) and the benefit of any discounted capital raising or spin-off. Arguably, the TSR gives a more comprehensive picture of the return generated by a stock. We note that for Silvercrest Asset Management Group the TSR over the last 5 years was 76%, which is better than the share price return mentioned above. This is largely a result of its dividend payments!

A Different Perspective

Silvercrest Asset Management Group shareholders gained a total return of 13% during the year. But that return falls short of the market. On the bright side, that's still a gain, and it's actually better than the average return of 12% over half a decade It is possible that returns will improve along with the business fundamentals. Keeping this in mind, a solid next step might be to take a look at Silvercrest Asset Management Group's dividend track record. This free interactive graph is a great place to start.

We will like Silvercrest Asset Management Group better if we see some big insider buys. While we wait, check out this free list of undervalued stocks (mostly small caps) with considerable, recent, insider buying.

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