Dr. Peng Telecom & Media Group Co., Ltd. (SHSE:600804) shareholders should be happy to see the share price up 12% in the last month. But that doesn't change the fact that the returns over the last five years have been less than pleasing. In fact, the share price is down 45%, which falls well short of the return you could get by buying an index fund.

With the stock having lost 6.1% in the past week, it's worth taking a look at business performance and seeing if there's any red flags.

See our latest analysis for Dr. Peng Telecom & Media Group

Dr. Peng Telecom & Media Group 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 it's hard to be confident a company will be sustainable if revenue growth is negligible, and it never makes a profit.

In the last five years Dr. Peng Telecom & Media Group saw its revenue shrink by 16% per year. That puts it in an unattractive cohort, to put it mildly. On the face of it we'd posit the share price fall of 8% compound, over five years is well justified by the fundamental deterioration. This loss means the stock shareholders are probably pretty annoyed. It is possible for businesses to bounce back but as Buffett says, 'turnarounds seldom turn'.

The company's revenue and earnings (over time) are depicted in the image below (click to see the exact numbers).

Take a more thorough look at Dr. Peng Telecom & Media Group's financial health with this free report on its balance sheet.

A Different Perspective

It's nice to see that Dr. Peng Telecom & Media Group shareholders have received a total shareholder return of 42% over the last year. There's no doubt those recent returns are much better than the TSR loss of 8% per year over five years. We generally put more weight on the long term performance over the short term, but the recent improvement could hint at a (positive) inflection point within the business. 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. To that end, you should be aware of the 1 warning sign we've spotted with Dr. Peng Telecom & Media Group .

If you like to buy stocks alongside management, then you might just love this free list of companies. (Hint: insiders have been buying them).

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.