Sensteed Hi-Tech Group (SZSE:000981) shareholders should be happy to see the share price up 16% in the last quarter. But over the last half decade, the stock has not performed well. In fact, the share price is down 48%, which falls well short of the return you could get by buying an index fund.

Now let's have a look at the company's fundamentals, and see if the long term shareholder return has matched the performance of the underlying business.

Check out our latest analysis for Sensteed Hi-Tech Group

Sensteed Hi-Tech Group isn't currently profitable, so most analysts would look to revenue growth to get an idea of how fast the underlying business is growing. When a company doesn't make profits, we'd generally expect to see good revenue growth. As you can imagine, fast revenue growth, when maintained, often leads to fast profit growth.

Over half a decade Sensteed Hi-Tech Group reduced its trailing twelve month revenue by 19% for each year. That's definitely a weaker result than most pre-profit companies report. On the face of it we'd posit the share price fall of 8% compound, over five years is well justified by the fundamental deterioration. This loss means the stock shareholders are probably pretty annoyed. Risk averse investors probably wouldn't like this one much.

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

Balance sheet strength is crucial. It might be well worthwhile taking a look at our free report on how its financial position has changed over time.

A Different Perspective

The total return of 9.4% received by Sensteed Hi-Tech Group shareholders over the last year isn't far from the market return of -9.8%. Worse still, the company has lost shareholders 8% per year over five years. It could well be that the business has begun to stabilize, although we'd be hesitant to buy without clear information suggesting the company will grow. 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. Take risks, for example - Sensteed Hi-Tech Group has 2 warning signs (and 1 which is a bit concerning) we think you should know about.

For those who like to find winning investments this free list of growing 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 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.