As an investor its worth striving to ensure your overall portfolio beats the market average. But its virtually certain that sometimes you will buy stocks that fall short of the market average returns. Unfortunately, that's been the case for longer term Tianma Microelectronics Co., Ltd. (SZSE:000050) shareholders, since the share price is down 46% in the last three years, falling well short of the market decline of around 26%. Unfortunately the share price momentum is still quite negative, with prices down 12% in thirty days. But this could be related to poor market conditions -- stocks are down 4.8% in the same time.

If the past week is anything to go by, investor sentiment for Tianma Microelectronics isn't positive, so let's see if there's a mismatch between fundamentals and the share price.

View our latest analysis for Tianma Microelectronics

Tianma Microelectronics 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. Some companies are willing to postpone profitability to grow revenue faster, but in that case one does expect good top-line growth.

Over three years, Tianma Microelectronics grew revenue at 1.5% per year. Given it's losing money in pursuit of growth, we are not really impressed with that. The stock dropped 13% during that time. Shareholders will probably be hoping growth picks up soon. But the real upside for shareholders will be if the company can start generating profits.

The company's revenue and earnings (over time) are depicted in the image below (click to see the exact numbers).

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

While it's never nice to take a loss, Tianma Microelectronics shareholders can take comfort that their trailing twelve month loss of 3.7% wasn't as bad as the market loss of around 18%. Given the total loss of 1.9% per year over five years, it seems returns have deteriorated in the last twelve months. Whilst Baron Rothschild does tell the investor "buy when there's blood in the streets, even if the blood is your own", buyers would need to examine the data carefully to be comfortable that the business itself is sound. 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. Consider risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 1 warning sign for Tianma Microelectronics you should know about.

We will like Tianma Microelectronics better if we see some big insider buys. While we wait, check out this free list of growing companies with considerable, recent, insider buying.

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.