Appotronics Corporation Limited (SHSE:688007) shareholders should be happy to see the share price up 17% in the last quarter. But that cannot eclipse the less-than-impressive returns over the last three years. In fact, the share price is down 48% in the last three years, falling well short of the market return.

Given the past week has been tough on shareholders, let's investigate the fundamentals and see what we can learn.

Given that Appotronics only made minimal earnings in the last twelve months, we'll focus on revenue to gauge its business development. Generally speaking, we'd consider a stock like this alongside loss-making companies, simply because the quantum of the profit is so low. It would be hard to believe in a more profitable future without growing revenues.

Over the last three years, Appotronics' revenue dropped 5.0% per year. That is not a good result. The stock has disappointed holders over the last three years, falling 14%, annualized. And with no profits, and weak revenue, are you surprised? However, in this kind of situation you can sometimes find opportunity, where sentiment is negative but the company is actually making good progress.

You can see below how earnings and revenue have changed over time (discover the exact values by clicking on the image).

Balance sheet strength is crucial. It might be well worthwhile taking a look at our free report on how its financial position has changed over time.

A Different Perspective

While the broader market gained around 4.1% in the last year, Appotronics shareholders lost 41% (even including dividends). However, keep in mind that even the best stocks will sometimes underperform the market over a twelve month period. Unfortunately, last year's performance may indicate unresolved challenges, given that it was worse than the annualised loss of 5% over the last half decade. Generally speaking long term share price weakness can be a bad sign, though contrarian investors might want to research the stock in hope of a turnaround. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Appotronics better, we need to consider many other factors. To that end, you should be aware of the 3 warning signs we've spotted with Appotronics .

If you are like me, then you will not want to miss this free list of undervalued small caps that insiders are buying.

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.