The main point of investing for the long term is to make money. Furthermore, you'd generally like to see the share price rise faster than the market. Unfortunately for shareholders, while the Ollie's Bargain Outlet Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:OLLI) share price is up 49% in the last five years, that's less than the market return. Looking at the last year alone, the stock is up 19%.

The past week has proven to be lucrative for Ollie's Bargain Outlet Holdings investors, so let's see if fundamentals drove the company's five-year performance.

See our latest analysis for Ollie's Bargain Outlet Holdings

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.

Over half a decade, Ollie's Bargain Outlet Holdings managed to grow its earnings per share at 8.6% a year. That makes the EPS growth particularly close to the yearly share price growth of 8%. That suggests that the market sentiment around the company hasn't changed much over that time. In fact, the share price seems to largely reflect the EPS growth.

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

We know that Ollie's Bargain Outlet Holdings has improved its bottom line lately, but is it going to grow revenue? You could check out this free report showing analyst revenue forecasts.

A Different Perspective

Ollie's Bargain Outlet Holdings shareholders gained a total return of 19% during the year. But that was short of the market average. On the bright side, that's still a gain, and it's actually better than the average return of 8% over half a decade This suggests the company might be improving over time. Before spending more time on Ollie's Bargain Outlet Holdings it might be wise to click here to see if insiders have been buying or selling shares.

If you are like me, then you will not want to miss this free list of undervalued small caps that insiders are 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.