No-one enjoys it when they lose money on a stock. But it can difficult to make money in a declining market. The Guangdong DFP New Material Group Co., Ltd. (SHSE:601515) is down 28% over three years, but the total shareholder return is -19% once you include the dividend. That's better than the market which declined 26% over the last three years. The last week also saw the share price slip down another 5.7%. But this could be related to the soft market, which is down about 2.8% in the same period.

After losing 5.7% this past week, it's worth investigating the company's fundamentals to see what we can infer from past performance.

See our latest analysis for Guangdong DFP New Material Group

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.

Guangdong DFP New Material Group saw its EPS decline at a compound rate of 6.6% per year, over the last three years. The share price decline of 10% is actually steeper than the EPS slippage. So it's likely that the EPS decline has disappointed the market, leaving investors hesitant to buy.

The graphic below depicts how EPS has changed over time (unveil the exact values by clicking on the image).

This free interactive report on Guangdong DFP New Material Group's earnings, revenue and cash flow is a great place to start, if you want to investigate the stock further.

What About The Total Shareholder Return (TSR)?

We've already covered Guangdong DFP New Material Group's share price action, but we should also mention its total shareholder return (TSR). Arguably the TSR is a more complete return calculation because it accounts for the value of dividends (as if they were reinvested), along with the hypothetical value of any discounted capital that have been offered to shareholders. Guangdong DFP New Material Group's TSR of was a loss of 19% for the 3 years. That wasn't as bad as its share price return, because it has paid dividends.

A Different Perspective

While it's certainly disappointing to see that Guangdong DFP New Material Group shares lost 15% throughout the year, that wasn't as bad as the market loss of 18%. Given the total loss of 2% 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 Guangdong DFP New Material Group better, we need to consider many other factors. Even so, be aware that Guangdong DFP New Material Group is showing 2 warning signs in our investment analysis , you should know about...

If you are like me, then you will not want to miss this free list of growing companies that insiders are buying.

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.