Hennessy Advisors, Inc. (NASDAQ:HNNA) shareholders might be concerned after seeing the share price drop 28% in the last quarter. But that doesn't change the reality that over twelve months the stock has done really well. After all, the share price is up a market-beating 26% in that time.

While this past week has detracted from the company's one-year return, let's look at the recent trends of the underlying business and see if the gains have been in alignment.

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To paraphrase Benjamin Graham: Over the short term the market is a voting machine, but over the long term it's a weighing machine. 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.

Hennessy Advisors was able to grow EPS by 78% in the last twelve months. This EPS growth is significantly higher than the 26% increase in the share price. Therefore, it seems the market isn't as excited about Hennessy Advisors as it was before. This could be an opportunity. This cautious sentiment is reflected in its (fairly low) P/E ratio of 7.91.

The company's earnings per share (over time) is depicted in the image below (click to see the exact numbers).

It might be well worthwhile taking a look at our free report on Hennessy Advisors' earnings, revenue and cash flow .

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. So for companies that pay a generous dividend, the TSR is often a lot higher than the share price return. We note that for Hennessy Advisors the TSR over the last 1 year was 33%, which is better than the share price return mentioned above. This is largely a result of its dividend payments!

A Different Perspective

We're pleased to report that Hennessy Advisors shareholders have received a total shareholder return of 33% over one year. And that does include the dividend. That gain is better than the annual TSR over five years, which is 7%. Therefore it seems like sentiment around the company has been positive lately. Someone with an optimistic perspective could view the recent improvement in TSR as indicating that the business itself is getting better with time. I find it very interesting to look at share price over the long term as a proxy for business performance. But to truly gain insight, we need to consider other information, too. For instance, we've identified 3 warning signs for Hennessy Advisors (1 is a bit concerning) that you should be aware of.

We will like Hennessy Advisors 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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