The 8.2% return this week takes Yinbang Clad MaterialLtd's (SZSE:300337) shareholders five-year gains to 52%

Yinbang Clad Material Co.,Ltd (SZSE:300337) shareholders have seen the share price descend 12% over the month. On the bright side the returns have been quite good over the last half decade. It has returned a market beating 51% in that time.

Since it's been a strong week for Yinbang Clad MaterialLtd shareholders, let's have a look at trend of the longer term fundamentals.

View our latest analysis for Yinbang Clad MaterialLtd

In his essay The Superinvestors of Graham-and-Doddsville Warren Buffett described how share prices do not always rationally reflect the value of a business. By comparing earnings per share (EPS) and share price changes over time, we can get a feel for how investor attitudes to a company have morphed over time.

During the five years of share price growth, Yinbang Clad MaterialLtd moved from a loss to profitability. That would generally be considered a positive, so we'd hope to see the share price to rise. Since the company was unprofitable five years ago, but not three years ago, it's worth taking a look at the returns in the last three years, too. We can see that the Yinbang Clad MaterialLtd share price is up 37% in the last three years. During the same period, EPS grew by 58% each year. This EPS growth is higher than the 11% average annual increase in the share price over the same three years. Therefore, it seems the market has moderated its expectations for growth, somewhat. Having said that, the market is still optimistic, given the P/E ratio of 79.03.

The image below shows how EPS has tracked over time (if you click on the image you can see greater detail).

We're pleased to report that the CEO is remunerated more modestly than most CEOs at similarly capitalized companies. But while CEO remuneration is always worth checking, the really important question is whether the company can grow earnings going forward. Dive deeper into the earnings by checking this interactive graph of Yinbang Clad MaterialLtd's earnings, revenue and cash flow.

A Different Perspective

While it's never nice to take a loss, Yinbang Clad MaterialLtd shareholders can take comfort that , including dividends,their trailing twelve month loss of 6.9% wasn't as bad as the market loss of around 15%. Of course, the long term returns are far more important and the good news is that over five years, the stock has returned 9% for each year. It could be that the business is just facing some short term problems, but shareholders should keep a close eye on the fundamentals. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Yinbang Clad MaterialLtd better, we need to consider many other factors. Even so, be aware that Yinbang Clad MaterialLtd is showing 2 warning signs in our investment analysis , you should know about...

But note: Yinbang Clad MaterialLtd 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.