Passive investing in an index fund is a good way to ensure your own returns roughly match the overall market. When you buy individual stocks, you can make higher profits, but you also face the risk of under-performance. That downside risk was realized by SiS International Holdings Limited (HKG:529) shareholders over the last year, as the share price declined 28%. That falls noticeably short of the market return of around 9.9%. Longer term shareholders haven't suffered as badly, since the stock is down a comparatively less painful 21% in three years. Furthermore, it's down 10% in about a quarter. That's not much fun for holders.

See our latest analysis for SiS International Holdings

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...' By comparing earnings per share (EPS) and share price changes over time, we can get a feel for how investor attitudes to a company have morphed over time.

Unfortunately SiS International Holdings reported an EPS drop of 38% for the last year. This fall in the EPS is significantly worse than the 28% the share price fall. It may have been that the weak EPS was not as bad as some had feared.

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

This free interactive report on SiS International Holdings's earnings, revenue and cash flow is a great place to start, if you want to investigate the stock further.

What about the Total Shareholder Return (TSR)?

We'd be remiss not to mention the difference between SiS International Holdings's total shareholder return (TSR) and its share price return. The TSR is a return calculation that accounts for the value of cash dividends (assuming that any dividend received was reinvested) and the calculated value of any discounted capital raisings and spin-offs. Dividends have been really beneficial for SiS International Holdings shareholders, and that cash payout explains why its total shareholder loss of 26%, over the last year, isn't as bad as the share price return.

A Different Perspective

Investors in SiS International Holdings had a tough year, with a total loss of 26% (including dividends) , against a market gain of about 9.9%. 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. Regrettably, last year's performance caps off a bad run, with the shareholders facing a total loss of 0.1% per year over five years. Generally speaking long term share price weakness can be a bad sign, though contrarian investors might want to research the stock in hope of a turnaround. 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. For example, we've discovered 4 warning signs for SiS International Holdings (1 is significant!) that you should be aware of before investing here.