In order to justify the effort of selecting individual stocks, it's worth striving to beat the returns from a market index fund. But the risk of stock picking is that you will likely buy under-performing companies. We regret to report that long term Zhongmin Energy Co., Ltd. (SHSE:600163) shareholders have had that experience, with the share price dropping 48% in three years, versus a market decline of about 33%. More recently, the share price has dropped a further 15% in a month. This could be related to the recent financial results - you can catch up on the most recent data by reading our company report.

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

To quote Buffett, 'Ships will sail around the world but the Flat Earth Society will flourish. There will continue to be wide discrepancies between price and value in the marketplace...' 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).

During the three years that the share price fell, Zhongmin Energy's earnings per share (EPS) dropped by 3.3% each year. This reduction in EPS is slower than the 20% annual reduction in the share price. So it's likely that the EPS decline has disappointed the market, leaving investors hesitant to buy.

You can see how EPS has changed over time in the image below (click on the chart to see the exact values).

It might be well worthwhile taking a look at our free report on Zhongmin Energy's earnings, revenue and cash flow.

A Different Perspective

While it's never nice to take a loss, Zhongmin Energy shareholders can take comfort that , including dividends,their trailing twelve month loss of 4.2% wasn't as bad as the market loss of around 19%. Longer term investors wouldn't be so upset, since they would have made 3%, each year, over five years. In the best case scenario the last year is just a temporary blip on the journey to a brighter future. While it is well worth considering the different impacts that market conditions can have on the share price, there are other factors that are even more important. To that end, you should be aware of the 1 warning sign we've spotted with Zhongmin Energy .

For those who like to find winning investments this free list of undervalued companies with recent insider purchasing, could be just the ticket.

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.