By buying an index fund, investors can approximate the average market return. But many of us dare to dream of bigger returns, and build a portfolio ourselves. Just take a look at Pan Hong Holdings Group Limited (SGX:P36), which is up 47%, over three years, soundly beating the market decline of 4.8% (not including dividends).

Since it's been a strong week for Pan Hong Holdings Group shareholders, let's have a look at trend of the longer term fundamentals.

See our latest analysis for Pan Hong Holdings Group

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 way to examine how market sentiment has changed over time is to look at the interaction between a company's share price and its earnings per share (EPS).

Over the last three years, Pan Hong Holdings Group failed to grow earnings per share, which fell 38% (annualized).

This means it's unlikely the market is judging the company based on earnings growth. Since the change in EPS doesn't seem to correlate with the change in share price, it's worth taking a look at other metrics.

The revenue drop of 39% is as underwhelming as some politicians. The only thing that's clear is there is low correlation between Pan Hong Holdings Group's share price and its historic fundamental data. Further research may be required!

You can see below how earnings and revenue have changed over time (discover the exact values by clicking on the image).

This free interactive report on Pan Hong Holdings Group's balance sheet strength is a great place to start, if you want to investigate the stock further.

A Dividend Lost

The share price return figures discussed above don't include the value of dividends paid previously, but the total shareholder return (TSR) does. In some ways, TSR is a better measure of how well an investment has performed. Pan Hong Holdings Group's TSR over the last 3 years is 77%; better than its share price return. Even though the company isn't paying dividends at the moment, it has done in the past.

A Different Perspective

Investors in Pan Hong Holdings Group had a tough year, with a total loss of 3.6%, against a market gain of about 4.4%. Even the share prices of good stocks drop sometimes, but we want to see improvements in the fundamental metrics of a business, before getting too interested. Longer term investors wouldn't be so upset, since they would have made 17%, each year, over five years. It could be that the recent sell-off is an opportunity, so it may be worth checking the fundamental data for signs of a long term growth trend. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Pan Hong Holdings Group better, we need to consider many other factors. Even so, be aware that Pan Hong Holdings Group is showing 2 warning signs in our investment analysis , and 1 of those makes us a bit uncomfortable...

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 SG exchanges.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.

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.

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