Shareholders in Xinjiang Zhundong Petroleum Technology (SZSE:002207) have lost 26%, as stock drops 18% this past week

Passive investing in an index fund is a good way to ensure your own returns roughly match the overall market. But if you buy individual stocks, you can do both better or worse than that. Unfortunately the Xinjiang Zhundong Petroleum Technology Co., Ltd. (SZSE:002207) share price slid 26% over twelve months. That's disappointing when you consider the market returned 14%. At least the damage isn't so bad if you look at the last three years, since the stock is down 9.7% in that time. And the share price decline continued over the last week, dropping some 18%.

With the stock having lost 18% in the past week, it's worth taking a look at business performance and seeing if there's any red flags.

See our latest analysis for Xinjiang Zhundong Petroleum Technology

Xinjiang Zhundong Petroleum 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 fast revenue growth can be easily extrapolated to forecast profits, often of considerable size.

Xinjiang Zhundong Petroleum Technology grew its revenue by 43% over the last year. We think that is pretty nice growth. Meanwhile, the share price is down 26% over twelve months, which is disappointing given the progress made. You might even wonder if the share price was previously over-hyped. However, that's in the past now, and it's the future that matters most.

You can see how earnings and revenue have changed over time in the image below (click on the chart to see the exact values).

If you are thinking of buying or selling Xinjiang Zhundong Petroleum Technology stock, you should check out this FREE detailed report on its balance sheet.

A Different Perspective

Xinjiang Zhundong Petroleum Technology shareholders are down 26% for the year, but the market itself is up 14%. 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. Unfortunately, last year's performance may indicate unresolved challenges, given that it was worse than the annualised loss of 2% 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. You could get a better understanding of Xinjiang Zhundong Petroleum Technology's growth by checking out this more detailed historical graph of earnings, revenue and cash flow.

Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking elsewhere. So take a peek at this free list of companies we expect will grow earnings.

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.