We think all investors should try to buy and hold high quality multi-year winners. While not every stock performs well, when investors win, they can win big. For example, the Build-A-Bear Workshop, Inc. (NYSE:BBW) share price is up a whopping 346% in the last half decade, a handsome return for long term holders. This just goes to show the value creation that some businesses can achieve. And in the last month, the share price has gained 8.7%.

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.

View our latest analysis for Build-A-Bear Workshop

There is no denying that markets are sometimes efficient, but prices do not always reflect 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 the five years of share price growth, Build-A-Bear Workshop moved from a loss to profitability. Sometimes, the start of profitability is a major inflection point that can signal fast earnings growth to come, which in turn justifies very strong share price gains.

The image below shows how EPS has tracked over time (if you click on the image you can see greater detail).

We know that Build-A-Bear Workshop has improved its bottom line over the last three years, but what does the future have in store? You can see how its balance sheet has strengthened (or weakened) over time in this free interactive graphic.

What About The Total Shareholder Return (TSR)?

We've already covered Build-A-Bear Workshop's share price action, but we should also mention its total shareholder return (TSR). Arguably the TSR is a more complete return calculation because it accounts for the value of dividends (as if they were reinvested), along with the hypothetical value of any discounted capital that have been offered to shareholders. Build-A-Bear Workshop hasn't been paying dividends, but its TSR of 405% exceeds its share price return of 346%, implying it has either spun-off a business, or raised capital at a discount; thereby providing additional value to shareholders.

A Different Perspective

Build-A-Bear Workshop shareholders gained a total return of 8.9% during the year. But that return falls short of the market. If we look back over five years, the returns are even better, coming in at 38% per year for five years. It may well be that this is a business worth popping on the watching, given the continuing positive reception, over time, from the market. Before spending more time on Build-A-Bear Workshop it might be wise to click here to see if insiders have been buying or selling shares.