It might seem bad, but the worst that can happen when you buy a stock (without leverage) is that its share price goes to zero. But if you buy shares in a really great company, you can more than double your money. To wit, the Shenyang Commercial City Co.,Ltd. (SHSE:600306) share price has flown 157% in the last three years. That sort of return is as solid as granite. It's also good to see the share price up 66% over the last quarter.

Since the stock has added CN¥412m to its market cap in the past week alone, let's see if underlying performance has been driving long-term returns.

See our latest analysis for Shenyang Commercial CityLtd

Shenyang Commercial CityLtd isn't currently profitable, so most analysts would look to revenue growth to get an idea of how fast the underlying business is growing. Shareholders of unprofitable companies usually expect strong revenue growth. That's because it's hard to be confident a company will be sustainable if revenue growth is negligible, and it never makes a profit.

Shenyang Commercial CityLtd actually saw its revenue drop by 29% per year over three years. So the share price gain of 37% per year is quite surprising. It's fair to say shareholders are definitely counting on a bright future.

The image below shows how earnings and revenue have tracked over time (if you click on the image you can see greater detail).

You can see how its balance sheet has strengthened (or weakened) over time in this free interactive graphic.

A Different Perspective

It's good to see that Shenyang Commercial CityLtd has rewarded shareholders with a total shareholder return of 35% in the last twelve months. That gain is better than the annual TSR over five years, which is 12%. Therefore it seems like sentiment around the company has been positive lately. In the best case scenario, this may hint at some real business momentum, implying that now could be a great time to delve deeper. 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. Even so, be aware that Shenyang Commercial CityLtd is showing 4 warning signs in our investment analysis , and 3 of those are concerning...

But note: Shenyang Commercial CityLtd 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 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.