ZhongAn Online P & C Insurance Co., Ltd. (HKG:6060) shareholders will doubtless be very grateful to see the share price up 57% in the last quarter. But that doesn't change the fact that the returns over the last half decade have been disappointing. In fact, the share price has declined rather badly, down some 62% in that time. Some might say the recent bounce is to be expected after such a bad drop. But it could be that the fall was overdone.

While the stock has risen 7.6% in the past week but long term shareholders are still in the red, let's see what the fundamentals can tell us.

Check out our latest analysis for ZhongAn Online P & C Insurance

ZhongAn Online P & C Insurance isn't currently profitable, so most analysts would look to revenue growth to get an idea of how fast the underlying business is growing. Generally speaking, companies without profits are expected to grow revenue every year, and at a good clip. As you can imagine, fast revenue growth, when maintained, often leads to fast profit growth.

In the last half decade, ZhongAn Online P & C Insurance saw its revenue increase by 28% per year. That's well above most other pre-profit companies. In contrast, the share price is has averaged a loss of 10% per year - that's quite disappointing. It's safe to say investor expectations are more grounded now. Given the revenue growth we'd consider the stock to be quite an interesting prospect if the company has a clear path to profitability.

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

ZhongAn Online P & C Insurance is well known by investors, and plenty of clever analysts have tried to predict the future profit levels. If you are thinking of buying or selling ZhongAn Online P & C Insurance stock, you should check out this free report showing analyst consensus estimates for future profits.

A Different Perspective

Although it hurts that ZhongAn Online P & C Insurance returned a loss of 7.2% in the last twelve months, the broader market was actually worse, returning a loss of 9.9%. What is more upsetting is the 10% per annum loss investors have suffered over the last half decade. This sort of share price action isn't particularly encouraging, but at least the losses are slowing. You might want to assess this data-rich visualization of its earnings, revenue and cash flow.

But note: ZhongAn Online P & C Insurance 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 HK 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.