Shanghai Film Co., Ltd. (SHSE:601595) shareholders might be concerned after seeing the share price drop 19% in the last month. Despite this, the stock is a strong performer over the last year, no doubt about that. During that period, the share price soared a full 103%. So some might not be surprised to see the price retrace some. The real question is whether the business is trending in the right direction.

While the stock has fallen 7.1% this week, it's worth focusing on the longer term and seeing if the stocks historical returns have been driven by the underlying fundamentals.

Shanghai Film isn't currently profitable, so most analysts would look to revenue growth to get an idea of how fast the underlying business is growing. Shareholders of unprofitable companies usually expect strong revenue growth. That's because fast revenue growth can be easily extrapolated to forecast profits, often of considerable size.

In the last year Shanghai Film saw its revenue grow by 22%. We respect that sort of growth, no doubt. The revenue growth is decent but the share price had an even better year, gaining 103%. If the profitability is on the horizon then now could be a very exciting time to be a shareholder. But investors need to be wary of how the 'fear of missing out' could influence them to buy without doing thorough research.

You can see how earnings and revenue have changed over time in the image below (click on the chart to see the exact values).

We're pleased to report that the CEO is remunerated more modestly than most CEOs at similarly capitalized companies. It's always worth keeping an eye on CEO pay, but a more important question is whether the company will grow earnings throughout the years. You can see what analysts are predicting for Shanghai Film in this interactive graph of future profit estimates.

A Different Perspective

It's good to see that Shanghai Film has rewarded shareholders with a total shareholder return of 103% in the last twelve months. That gain is better than the annual TSR over five years, which is 14%. Therefore it seems like sentiment around the company has been positive lately. Given the share price momentum remains strong, it might be worth taking a closer look at the stock, lest you miss an opportunity. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Shanghai Film better, we need to consider many other factors. To that end, you should be aware of the 1 warning sign we've spotted with Shanghai Film .

Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking elsewhere. So take a peek at this free list of companies we expect will grow earnings.

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.