The one-year underlying earnings growth at Clean Science and Technology (NSE:CLEAN) is promising, but the shareholders are still in the red over that time

Investors can approximate the average market return by buying an index fund. While individual stocks can be big winners, plenty more fail to generate satisfactory returns. For example, the Clean Science and Technology Limited (NSE:CLEAN) share price is down 19% in the last year. That's disappointing when you consider the market declined 1.1%. We wouldn't rush to judgement on Clean Science and Technology because we don't have a long term history to look at.

With the stock having lost 3.9% in the past week, it's worth taking a look at business performance and seeing if there's any red flags.

View our latest analysis for Clean Science and Technology

To paraphrase Benjamin Graham: Over the short term the market is a voting machine, but over the long term it's a weighing machine. 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 unfortunate twelve months during which the Clean Science and Technology share price fell, it actually saw its earnings per share (EPS) improve by 26%. It could be that the share price was previously over-hyped.

It's surprising to see the share price fall so much, despite the improved EPS. So it's well worth checking out some other metrics, too.

With a low yield of 0.3% we doubt that the dividend influences the share price much. Clean Science and Technology managed to grow revenue over the last year, which is usually a real positive. Since the fundamental metrics don't readily explain the share price drop, there might be an opportunity if the market has overreacted.

The image below shows how earnings and revenue have tracked over time (if you click on the image you can see greater detail).

We know that Clean Science and Technology has improved its bottom line lately, but what does the future have in store? So we recommend checking out this free report showing consensus forecasts

A Different Perspective

Given that the market gained 1.1% in the last year, Clean Science and Technology shareholders might be miffed that they lost 19% (even including dividends). While the aim is to do better than that, it's worth recalling that even great long-term investments sometimes underperform for a year or more. The share price decline has continued throughout the most recent three months, down 6.9%, suggesting an absence of enthusiasm from investors. Basically, most investors should be wary of buying into a poor-performing stock, unless the business itself has clearly improved. Before spending more time on Clean Science and Technology it might be wise to click here to see if insiders have been buying or selling shares.

But note: Clean Science and Technology 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 IN 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.