For many, the main point of investing is to generate higher returns than the overall market. But the main game is to find enough winners to more than offset the losers So we wouldn't blame long term Bohai Leasing Co., Ltd. (SZSE:000415) shareholders for doubting their decision to hold, with the stock down 44% over a half decade. And some of the more recent buyers are probably worried, too, with the stock falling 21% in the last year. Even worse, it's down 20% in about a month, which isn't fun at all. Importantly, this could be a market reaction to the recently released financial results. You can check out the latest numbers in our company report.

With the stock having lost 3.2% in the past week, it's worth taking a look at business performance and seeing if there's any red flags.

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 flawed but reasonable way to assess how sentiment around a company has changed is to compare the earnings per share (EPS) with the share price.

During five years of share price growth, Bohai Leasing moved from a loss to profitability. That would generally be considered a positive, so we are surprised to see the share price is down. Other metrics might give us a better handle on how its value is changing over time.

The revenue fall of 2.3% per year for five years is neither good nor terrible. But it's quite possible the market had expected better; a closer look at the revenue trends might explain the pessimism.

The graphic below depicts how earnings and revenue have changed over time (unveil the exact values by clicking on the image).

Take a more thorough look at Bohai Leasing's financial health with this free report on its balance sheet.

A Different Perspective

Bohai Leasing shareholders are down 21% over twelve months, which isn't far from the market return of -19%. So last year was actually even worse than the last five years, which cost shareholders 8% per year. It will probably take a substantial improvement in the fundamental performance for the company to reverse this trend. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Bohai Leasing better, we need to consider many other factors. For instance, we've identified 2 warning signs for Bohai Leasing (1 doesn't sit too well with us) that you should be aware of.

Of course Bohai Leasing 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.