Yanchang Petroleum International (HKG:346 investor five-year losses grow to 79% as the stock sheds HK$50m this past week

Some stocks are best avoided. We don't wish catastrophic capital loss on anyone. Imagine if you held Yanchang Petroleum International Limited (HKG:346) for half a decade as the share price tanked 79%. We also note that the stock has performed poorly over the last year, with the share price down 33%. The falls have accelerated recently, with the share price down 15% in the last three months.

Since Yanchang Petroleum International has shed HK$50m from its value in the past 7 days, let's see if the longer term decline has been driven by the business' economics.

See our latest analysis for Yanchang Petroleum International

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 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 five years of share price growth, Yanchang Petroleum International moved from a loss to profitability. Most would consider that to be a good thing, so it's counter-intuitive to see the share price declining. Other metrics may better explain the share price move.

In contrast to the share price, revenue has actually increased by 26% a year in the five year period. So it seems one might have to take closer look at the fundamentals to understand why the share price languishes. After all, there may be an opportunity.

The company's revenue and earnings (over time) are depicted in the image below (click to see the exact numbers).

This free interactive report on Yanchang Petroleum International's balance sheet strength is a great place to start, if you want to investigate the stock further.

A Different Perspective

Investors in Yanchang Petroleum International had a tough year, with a total loss of 33%, against a market gain of about 5.1%. 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 12% over the last half decade. We realise that Baron Rothschild has said investors should "buy when there is blood on the streets", but we caution that investors should first be sure they are buying a high quality business. 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 be aware of the 3 warning signs we've spotted with Yanchang Petroleum International .

For those who like to find winning investments this free list of undervalued companies with recent insider purchasing, could be just the ticket.

Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on Hong Kong 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.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team@simplywallst.com