As an investor its worth striving to ensure your overall portfolio beats the market average. But if you try your hand at stock picking, your risk returning less than the market. We regret to report that long term Aptiv PLC (NYSE:APTV) shareholders have had that experience, with the share price dropping 13% in three years, versus a market return of about 19%. It's down 21% in about a quarter.

If the past week is anything to go by, investor sentiment for Aptiv isn't positive, so let's see if there's a mismatch between fundamentals and the share price.

Check out our latest analysis for Aptiv

There is no denying that markets are sometimes efficient, but prices do not always reflect 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.

Aptiv saw its EPS decline at a compound rate of 22% per year, over the last three years. This fall in the EPS is worse than the 5% compound annual share price fall. So the market may not be too worried about the EPS figure, at the moment -- or it may have previously priced some of the drop in.

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

We know that Aptiv has improved its bottom line lately, but is it going to grow revenue? Check if analysts think Aptiv will grow revenue in the future.

A Different Perspective

While the broader market gained around 13% in the last year, Aptiv shareholders lost 2.2%. Even the share prices of good stocks drop sometimes, but we want to see improvements in the fundamental metrics of a business, before getting too interested. Longer term investors wouldn't be so upset, since they would have made 2%, each year, over five years. It could be that the recent sell-off is an opportunity, so it may be worth checking the fundamental data for signs of a long term growth trend. I find it very interesting to look at share price over the long term as a proxy for business performance. But to truly gain insight, we need to consider other information, too. For example, we've discovered 2 warning signs for Aptiv that you should be aware of before investing here.

Of course Aptiv 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 American 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.