Blue Moon Group Holdings (HKG:6993) shareholders have endured a 38% loss from investing in the stock a year ago

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. For example, the Blue Moon Group Holdings Limited (HKG:6993) share price is down 40% in the last year. That falls noticeably short of the market decline of around 2.7%. Because Blue Moon Group Holdings hasn't been listed for many years, the market is still learning about how the business performs. The falls have accelerated recently, with the share price down 16% in the last three months. Of course, this share price action may well have been influenced by the 7.9% decline in the broader market, throughout the period.

Since shareholders are down over the longer term, lets look at the underlying fundamentals over the that time and see if they've been consistent with returns.

See our latest analysis for Blue Moon Group Holdings

There is no denying that markets are sometimes efficient, but prices do not always reflect underlying business performance. 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.

Unhappily, Blue Moon Group Holdings had to report a 38% decline in EPS over the last year. This proportional reduction in earnings per share isn't far from the 40% decrease in the share price. Given the lower EPS we might have expected investors to lose confidence in the stock, but that doesn't seemed to have happened. Rather, the share price is remains a similar multiple of the EPS, suggesting the outlook remains the same.

You can see how EPS has changed over time in the image below (click on the chart to see the exact values).

This free interactive report on Blue Moon Group Holdings' earnings, revenue and cash flow is a great place to start, if you want to investigate the stock further.

What About Dividends?

It is important to consider the total shareholder return, as well as the share price return, for any given stock. Whereas the share price return only reflects the change in the share price, the TSR includes the value of dividends (assuming they were reinvested) and the benefit of any discounted capital raising or spin-off. Arguably, the TSR gives a more comprehensive picture of the return generated by a stock. As it happens, Blue Moon Group Holdings' TSR for the last 1 year was -38%, which exceeds the share price return mentioned earlier. This is largely a result of its dividend payments!

A Different Perspective

We doubt Blue Moon Group Holdings shareholders are happy with the loss of 38% over twelve months (even including dividends). That falls short of the market, which lost 2.7%. That's disappointing, but it's worth keeping in mind that the market-wide selling wouldn't have helped. With the stock down 16% over the last three months, the market doesn't seem to believe that the company has solved all its problems. Given the relatively short history of this stock, we'd remain pretty wary until we see some strong business performance. While it is well worth considering the different impacts that market conditions can have on the share price, there are other factors that are even more important. For instance, we've identified 2 warning signs for Blue Moon Group Holdings (1 is significant) that you should be aware of.

We will like Blue Moon Group Holdings better if we see some big insider buys. While we wait, check out this free list of growing companies with considerable, recent, insider buying.

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.