It's easy to match the overall market return by buying an index fund. But if you buy individual stocks, you can do both better or worse than that. For example, the North Navigation Control Technology Co.,Ltd. (SHSE:600435) share price is down 12% in the last year. That contrasts poorly with the market return of 6.1%. Longer term shareholders haven't suffered as badly, since the stock is down a comparatively less painful 8.6% in three years. It's down 24% in about a quarter.

After losing 8.6% this past week, it's worth investigating the company's fundamentals to see what we can infer from past performance.

While the efficient markets hypothesis continues to be taught by some, it has been proven that markets are over-reactive dynamic systems, and investors are not always rational. One way to examine how market sentiment has changed over time is to look at the interaction between a company's share price and its earnings per share (EPS).

North Navigation Control TechnologyLtd fell to a loss making position during the year. While this may prove temporary, we'd consider it a negative, so it doesn't surprise us that the stock price is down. We hope for shareholders' sake that the company becomes profitable again soon.

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

It might be well worthwhile taking a look at our free report on North Navigation Control TechnologyLtd's earnings, revenue and cash flow.

A Different Perspective

While the broader market gained around 6.1% in the last year, North Navigation Control TechnologyLtd shareholders lost 12% (even including dividends). Even the share prices of good stocks drop sometimes, but we want to see improvements in the fundamental metrics of a business, before getting too interested. Longer term investors wouldn't be so upset, since they would have made 0.8%, 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. You could get a better understanding of North Navigation Control TechnologyLtd's growth by checking out this more detailed historical graph of earnings, revenue and cash flow.

But note: North Navigation Control TechnologyLtd may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies with past earnings growth (and further growth forecast).

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.