While it may not be enough for some shareholders, we think it is good to see the Gree Electric Appliances, Inc. of Zhuhai (SZSE:000651) share price up 19% in a single quarter. If you look at the last three years, the stock price is down. But on the bright side, its return of -30%, is better than the market, which is down 16%.

The recent uptick of 8.4% could be a positive sign of things to come, so let's take a look at historical fundamentals.

To paraphrase Benjamin Graham: Over the short term the market is a voting machine, but over the long term it's a weighing machine. 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.

During the unfortunate three years of share price decline, Gree Electric Appliances of Zhuhai actually saw its earnings per share (EPS) improve by 12% per year. This is quite a puzzle, and suggests there might be something temporarily buoying the share price. Or else the company was over-hyped in the past, and so its growth has disappointed.

Since the change in EPS doesn't seem to correlate with the change in share price, it's worth taking a look at other metrics.

We note that the dividend has declined - a likely contributor to the share price drop. In contrast it does not seem particularly likely that the revenue levels are a concern for investors.

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

Gree Electric Appliances of Zhuhai is well known by investors, and plenty of clever analysts have tried to predict the future profit levels. Given we have quite a good number of analyst forecasts, it might be well worth checking out this free chart depicting consensus estimates.

What About Dividends?

As well as measuring the share price return, investors should also consider the total shareholder return (TSR). Whereas the share price return only reflects the change in the share price, the TSR includes the value of dividends (assuming they were reinvested) and the benefit of any discounted capital raising or spin-off. So for companies that pay a generous dividend, the TSR is often a lot higher than the share price return. As it happens, Gree Electric Appliances of Zhuhai's TSR for the last 3 years was -13%, which exceeds the share price return mentioned earlier. The dividends paid by the company have thusly boosted the total shareholder return.

A Different Perspective

It's good to see that Gree Electric Appliances of Zhuhai has rewarded shareholders with a total shareholder return of 10.0% in the last twelve months. And that does include the dividend. That gain is better than the annual TSR over five years, which is 1.3%. Therefore it seems like sentiment around the company has been positive lately. Someone with an optimistic perspective could view the recent improvement in TSR as indicating that the business itself is getting better with time. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Gree Electric Appliances of Zhuhai better, we need to consider many other factors. Case in point: We've spotted 1 warning sign for Gree Electric Appliances of Zhuhai you should be aware of.

Of course Gree Electric Appliances of Zhuhai 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 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.