It's nice to see the Gibraltar Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROCK) share price up 10% in a week. But if you look at the last five years the returns have not been good. You would have done a lot better buying an index fund, since the stock has dropped 45% in that half decade.

The recent uptick of 10% could be a positive sign of things to come, so let's take a look at historical fundamentals.

While markets are a powerful pricing mechanism, share 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).

While the share price declined over five years, Gibraltar Industries actually managed to increase EPS by an average of 15% per year. So it doesn't seem like EPS is a great guide to understanding how the market is valuing the stock. Alternatively, growth expectations may have been unreasonable in the past.

Due to the lack of correlation between the EPS growth and the falling share price, it's worth taking a look at other metrics to try to understand the share price movement.

Revenue is actually up 3.5% over the time period. So it seems one might have to take closer look at the fundamentals to understand why the share price languishes. After all, there may be an opportunity.

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

We know that Gibraltar Industries has improved its bottom line lately, but what does the future have in store? So it makes a lot of sense to check out what analysts think Gibraltar Industries will earn in the future (free profit forecasts).

A Different Perspective

Gibraltar Industries shareholders are down 7.0% for the year, but the market itself is up 21%. However, keep in mind that even the best stocks will sometimes underperform the market over a twelve month period. Unfortunately, longer term shareholders are suffering worse, given the loss of 8% doled out over the last five years. We would want clear information suggesting the company will grow, before taking the view that the share price will stabilize. Before spending more time on Gibraltar Industries it might be wise to click here to see if insiders have been buying or selling shares.

But note: Gibraltar Industries may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies with past earnings growth (and further growth forecast).

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

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.