ZhongAn Online P & C Insurance Co., Ltd. (HKG:6060) shareholders should be happy to see the share price up 13% in the last month. But don't envy holders -- looking back over 5 years the returns have been really bad. In fact, the share price has declined rather badly, down some 55% in that time. So we're not so sure if the recent bounce should be celebrated. But it could be that the fall was overdone.

It's worthwhile assessing if the company's economics have been moving in lockstep with these underwhelming shareholder returns, or if there is some disparity between the two. So let's do just that.

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

Given that ZhongAn Online P & C Insurance didn't make a profit in the last twelve months, we'll focus on revenue growth to form a quick view of its business development. 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 24% per year. That's better than most loss-making companies. In contrast, the share price is has averaged a loss of 9% per year - that's quite disappointing. It's safe to say investor expectations are more grounded now. If you think the company can keep up its revenue growth, you'd have to consider the possibility that there's an opportunity here.

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. You can see what analysts are predicting for ZhongAn Online P & C Insurance in this interactive graph of future profit estimates.

A Different Perspective

It's good to see that ZhongAn Online P & C Insurance has rewarded shareholders with a total shareholder return of 7.5% in the last twelve months. Notably the five-year annualised TSR loss of 9% per year compares very unfavourably with the recent share price performance. The long term loss makes us cautious, but the short term TSR gain certainly hints at a brighter future. 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 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.