Long term investing can be life changing when you buy and hold the truly great businesses. And we've seen some truly amazing gains over the years. Just think about the savvy investors who held Quanta Services, Inc. (NYSE:PWR) shares for the last five years, while they gained 815%. And this is just one example of the epic gains achieved by some long term investors. In more good news, the share price has risen 34% in thirty days. We note that Quanta Services reported its financial results recently; luckily, you can catch up on the latest revenue and profit numbers in our company report. We love happy stories like this one. The company should be really proud of that performance!

Now it's worth having a look at the company's fundamentals too, because that will help us determine if the long term shareholder return has matched the performance of the underlying business.

Our free stock report includes 1 warning sign investors should be aware of before investing in Quanta Services. Read for free now.

There is no denying that markets are sometimes efficient, but prices do not always reflect underlying business performance. 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.

During five years of share price growth, Quanta Services achieved compound earnings per share (EPS) growth of 23% per year. This EPS growth is lower than the 56% average annual increase in the share price. This suggests that market participants hold the company in higher regard, these days. And that's hardly shocking given the track record of growth. This optimism is visible in its fairly high P/E ratio of 54.33.

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

We know that Quanta Services has improved its bottom line lately, but is it going to grow revenue? If you're interested, you could check this free report showing consensus revenue forecasts.

What About Dividends?

When looking at investment returns, it is important to consider the difference between total shareholder return (TSR) and share price return. 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. It's fair to say that the TSR gives a more complete picture for stocks that pay a dividend. As it happens, Quanta Services' TSR for the last 5 years was 826%, which exceeds the share price return mentioned earlier. This is largely a result of its dividend payments!