Gan & Lee Pharmaceuticals. (SHSE:603087) shareholders should be happy to see the share price up 13% in the last month. But in truth the last year hasn't been good for the share price. After all, the share price is down 35% in the last year, significantly under-performing the market.

While the last year has been tough for Gan & Lee Pharmaceuticals shareholders, this past week has shown signs of promise. So let's look at the longer term fundamentals and see if they've been the driver of the negative returns.

View our latest analysis for Gan & Lee Pharmaceuticals

To quote Buffett, 'Ships will sail around the world but the Flat Earth Society will flourish. There will continue to be wide discrepancies between price and value in the marketplace...' 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.

Unhappily, Gan & Lee Pharmaceuticals had to report a 88% decline in EPS over the last year. The share price fall of 35% isn't as bad as the reduction in earnings per share. So despite the weak per-share profits, some investors are probably relieved the situation wasn't more difficult. With a P/E ratio of 133.23, it's fair to say the market sees an EPS rebound on the cards.

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

Before buying or selling a stock, we always recommend a close examination of historic growth trends, available here.

A Different Perspective

Gan & Lee Pharmaceuticals shareholders are down 34% for the year (even including dividends), even worse than the market loss of 6.8%. That's disappointing, but it's worth keeping in mind that the market-wide selling wouldn't have helped. It's great to see a nice little 6.7% rebound in the last three months. This could just be a bounce because the selling was too aggressive, but fingers crossed it's the start of a new trend. 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. Case in point: We've spotted 4 warning signs for Gan & Lee Pharmaceuticals you should be aware of, and 2 of them are concerning.

If you would prefer to check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss this free list of companies that have proven they can grow earnings.

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