These days it's easy to simply buy an index fund, and your returns should (roughly) match the market. But if you pick the right individual stocks, you could make more than that. To wit, the Shanghai Highly (Group) Co., Ltd. (SHSE:600619) share price is 41% higher than it was a year ago, much better than the market decline of around 6.1% (not including dividends) in the same period. If it can keep that out-performance up over the long term, investors will do very well! However, the longer term returns haven't been so impressive, with the stock up just 11% in the last three years.

Since it's been a strong week for Shanghai Highly (Group) shareholders, let's have a look at trend of the longer term fundamentals.

View our latest analysis for Shanghai Highly (Group)

While the efficient markets hypothesis continues to be taught by some, it has been proven that markets are over-reactive dynamic systems, and investors are not always rational. 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 last year Shanghai Highly (Group) saw its earnings per share (EPS) drop below zero. While some may see this as temporary, we're a skeptical bunch, and so we're a little surprised to see the share price go up. It may be that the company has done well on other metrics.

We doubt the modest 0.1% dividend yield is doing much to support the share price. We think that the revenue growth of 7.7% could have some investors interested. Many businesses do go through a phase where they have to forgo some profits to drive business development, and sometimes its for the best.

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

You can see how its balance sheet has strengthened (or weakened) over time in this free interactive graphic.

A Different Perspective

It's good to see that Shanghai Highly (Group) has rewarded shareholders with a total shareholder return of 41% in the last twelve months. Of course, that includes the dividend. There's no doubt those recent returns are much better than the TSR loss of 1.2% per year over five years. This makes us a little wary, but the business might have turned around its fortunes. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Shanghai Highly (Group) better, we need to consider many other factors. Case in point: We've spotted 2 warning signs for Shanghai Highly (Group) you should be aware of, and 1 of them is potentially serious.

But note: Shanghai Highly (Group) may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies with past earnings growth (and further growth forecast).

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.