If you love investing in stocks you're bound to buy some losers. But long term BGI Genomics Co., Ltd. (SZSE:300676) shareholders have had a particularly rough ride in the last three year. Unfortunately, they have held through a 64% decline in the share price in that time. Shareholders have had an even rougher run lately, with the share price down 17% in the last 90 days. However, one could argue that the price has been influenced by the general market, which is down 8.2% in the same timeframe.

If the past week is anything to go by, investor sentiment for BGI Genomics isn't positive, so let's see if there's a mismatch between fundamentals and the share price.

See our latest analysis for BGI Genomics

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.

During the three years that the share price fell, BGI Genomics' earnings per share (EPS) dropped by 48% each year. This fall in the EPS is worse than the 29% compound annual share price fall. So the market may not be too worried about the EPS figure, at the moment -- or it may have previously priced some of the drop in. This positive sentiment is also reflected in the generous P/E ratio of 79.62.

You can see below how EPS has changed over time (discover the exact values by clicking on the image).

Dive deeper into BGI Genomics' key metrics by checking this interactive graph of BGI Genomics's earnings, revenue and cash flow.

A Different Perspective

While the broader market lost about 5.8% in the twelve months, BGI Genomics shareholders did even worse, losing 14% (even including dividends). However, it could simply be that the share price has been impacted by broader market jitters. It might be worth keeping an eye on the fundamentals, in case there's a good opportunity. Regrettably, last year's performance caps off a bad run, with the shareholders facing a total loss of 0.5% per year over five years. We realise that Baron Rothschild has said investors should "buy when there is blood on the streets", but we caution that investors should first be sure they are buying a high quality business. 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. Even so, be aware that BGI Genomics is showing 3 warning signs in our investment analysis , and 2 of those are potentially serious...

Of course BGI Genomics may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see this free collection of growth stocks.

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