While it may not be enough for some shareholders, we think it is good to see the Yantai Changyu Pioneer Wine Company Limited (SZSE:200869) share price up 17% in a single quarter. But over the last half decade, the stock has not performed well. In fact, the share price is down 35%, which falls well short of the return you could get by buying an index fund.

While the last five years has been tough for Yantai Changyu Pioneer Wine shareholders, this past week has shown signs of promise. So let's look at the longer term fundamentals and see if they've been the driver of the negative returns.

Check out our latest analysis for Yantai Changyu Pioneer Wine

While markets are a powerful pricing mechanism, share prices reflect investor sentiment, not just underlying business performance. 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.

Looking back five years, both Yantai Changyu Pioneer Wine's share price and EPS declined; the latter at a rate of 12% per year. The share price decline of 8% per year isn't as bad as the EPS decline. So investors might expect EPS to bounce back -- or they may have previously foreseen the EPS decline.

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

Dive deeper into Yantai Changyu Pioneer Wine's key metrics by checking this interactive graph of Yantai Changyu Pioneer Wine's earnings, revenue and cash flow.

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. In the case of Yantai Changyu Pioneer Wine, it has a TSR of -22% for the last 5 years. That exceeds its share price return that we previously mentioned. This is largely a result of its dividend payments!

A Different Perspective

While it's never nice to take a loss, Yantai Changyu Pioneer Wine shareholders can take comfort that , including dividends,their trailing twelve month loss of 6.8% wasn't as bad as the market loss of around 10.0%. Given the total loss of 4% per year over five years, it seems returns have deteriorated in the last twelve months. While some investors do well specializing in buying companies that are struggling (but nonetheless undervalued), don't forget that Buffett said that 'turnarounds seldom turn'. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Yantai Changyu Pioneer Wine better, we need to consider many other factors. For instance, we've identified 1 warning sign for Yantai Changyu Pioneer Wine that you should be aware of.

Of course Yantai Changyu Pioneer Wine 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 CN exchanges.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.
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.