Further weakness as China First Heavy Industries (SHSE:601106) drops 3.8% this week, taking three-year losses to 13%

It is doubtless a positive to see that the China First Heavy Industries (SHSE:601106) share price has gained some 34% in the last three months. If you look at the last three years, the stock price is down. But that's not so bad when you consider its market is down 17%.

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

View our latest analysis for China First Heavy Industries

While markets are a powerful pricing mechanism, share prices reflect investor sentiment, not just underlying business performance. One imperfect but simple way to consider how the market perception of a company has shifted is to compare the change in the earnings per share (EPS) with the share price movement.

China First Heavy Industries 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. But it's safe to say we'd generally expect the share price to be lower as a result!

The company's earnings per share (over time) is depicted in the image below (click to see the exact numbers).

This free interactive report on China First Heavy Industries' earnings, revenue and cash flow is a great place to start, if you want to investigate the stock further.

A Different Perspective

China First Heavy Industries' TSR for the year was broadly in line with the market average, at 4.1%. Most would be happy with a gain, and it helps that the year's return is actually better than the average return over five years, which was 1.9%. Even if the share price growth slows down from here, there's a good chance that this is business worth watching in the long term. You might want to assess this data-rich visualization of its earnings, revenue and cash flow.

If you like to buy stocks alongside management, then you might just love this free list of companies. (Hint: many of them are unnoticed AND have attractive valuation).

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.