By buying an index fund, you can roughly match the market return with ease. But if you buy good businesses at attractive prices, your portfolio returns could exceed the average market return. Just take a look at Xuzhou Handler Special Vehicle Co., Ltd (SZSE:300201), which is up 79%, over three years, soundly beating the market decline of 18% (not including dividends). However, more recent returns haven't been as impressive as that, with the stock returning just 36% in the last year, including dividends.

On the back of a solid 7-day performance, let's check what role the company's fundamentals have played in driving long term shareholder returns.

To quote Buffett, 'Ships will sail around the world but the Flat Earth Society will flourish. There will continue to be wide discrepancies between price and value in the marketplace...' 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.

During three years of share price growth, Xuzhou Handler Special Vehicle moved from a loss to profitability. So we would expect a higher share price over the period.

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

Dive deeper into Xuzhou Handler Special Vehicle's key metrics by checking this interactive graph of Xuzhou Handler Special Vehicle's earnings, revenue and cash flow.

A Different Perspective

It's good to see that Xuzhou Handler Special Vehicle has rewarded shareholders with a total shareholder return of 36% in the last twelve months. That's including the dividend. Since the one-year TSR is better than the five-year TSR (the latter coming in at 11% per year), it would seem that the stock's performance has improved in recent times. Given the share price momentum remains strong, it might be worth taking a closer look at the stock, lest you miss an opportunity. 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 learn about the 2 warning signs we've spotted with Xuzhou Handler Special Vehicle (including 1 which shouldn't be ignored) .

Of course Xuzhou Handler Special Vehicle 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.