If you buy and hold a stock for many years, you'd hope to be making a profit. Better yet, you'd like to see the share price move up more than the market average. Unfortunately for shareholders, while the Guangdong Anjubao Digital Technology Co., Ltd. (SZSE:300155) share price is up 15% in the last five years, that's less than the market return. Zooming in, the stock is actually down 1.9% in the last year.

After a strong gain in the past week, it's worth seeing if longer term returns have been driven by improving fundamentals.

Guangdong Anjubao Digital Technology wasn't profitable in the last twelve months, it is unlikely we'll see a strong correlation between its share price and its earnings per share (EPS). Arguably revenue is our next best option. When a company doesn't make profits, we'd generally hope to see good 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.

Over the last half decade Guangdong Anjubao Digital Technology's revenue has actually been trending down at about 25% per year. The stock is only up 3% for each year during the period. That's pretty decent given the top line decline, and lack of profits. Of course, a closer look at the bottom line - and any available analyst forecasts - could reveal an opportunity (if they point to future growth).

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

This free interactive report on Guangdong Anjubao Digital Technology's balance sheet strength is a great place to start, if you want to investigate the stock further.

What About The Total Shareholder Return (TSR)?

Investors should note that there's a difference between Guangdong Anjubao Digital Technology's total shareholder return (TSR) and its share price change, which we've covered above. The TSR attempts to capture the value of dividends (as if they were reinvested) as well as any spin-offs or discounted capital raisings offered to shareholders. Guangdong Anjubao Digital Technology's TSR of 17% for the 5 years exceeded its share price return, because it has paid dividends.

A Different Perspective

Investors in Guangdong Anjubao Digital Technology had a tough year, with a total loss of 1.9%, against a market gain of about 6.4%. However, keep in mind that even the best stocks will sometimes underperform the market over a twelve month period. Longer term investors wouldn't be so upset, since they would have made 3%, each year, over five years. If the fundamental data continues to indicate long term sustainable growth, the current sell-off could be an opportunity worth considering. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Guangdong Anjubao Digital Technology better, we need to consider many other factors. Even so, be aware that Guangdong Anjubao Digital Technology is showing 2 warning signs in our investment analysis , you should know about...

We will like Guangdong Anjubao Digital Technology better if we see some big insider buys. While we wait, check out this free list of undervalued stocks (mostly small caps) with considerable, recent, insider 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.