Over the last month the Jiangsu Yitong High-Tech Co., Ltd. (SZSE:300211) has been much stronger than before, rebounding by 45%. But that doesn't help the fact that the three year return is less impressive. In fact, the share price is down 42% in the last three years, falling well short of the market return.

On a more encouraging note the company has added CN¥690m to its market cap in just the last 7 days, so let's see if we can determine what's driven the three-year loss for shareholders.

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 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.

Jiangsu Yitong High-Tech saw its share price decline over the three years in which its EPS also dropped, falling to a loss. Due to the loss, it's not easy to use EPS as a reliable guide to the business. However, we can say we'd expect to see a falling share price in this scenario.

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

This free interactive report on Jiangsu Yitong High-Tech's earnings, revenue and cash flow is a great place to start, if you want to investigate the stock further.

A Different Perspective

Jiangsu Yitong High-Tech shareholders are down 18% over twelve months, which isn't far from the market return of -17%. The silver lining is that longer term investors would have made a total return of 3% per year over half a decade. If the stock price has been impacted by changing sentiment, rather than deteriorating business conditions, it could spell opportunity. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Jiangsu Yitong High-Tech better, we need to consider many other factors. Consider for instance, the ever-present spectre of investment risk. We've identified 1 warning sign with Jiangsu Yitong High-Tech , and understanding them should be part of your investment process.

Of course Jiangsu Yitong High-Tech 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.