Statistically speaking, long term investing is a profitable endeavour. But that doesn't mean long term investors can avoid big losses. For example the Tong Ren Tang Technologies Co. Ltd. (HKG:1666) share price dropped 55% over five years. That's an unpleasant experience for long term holders. And some of the more recent buyers are probably worried, too, with the stock falling 39% in the last year. Shareholders have had an even rougher run lately, with the share price down 21% in the last 90 days. However, one could argue that the price has been influenced by the general market, which is down 9.7% in the same timeframe.

Check out our latest analysis for Tong Ren Tang Technologies

While the efficient markets hypothesis continues to be taught by some, it has been proven that markets are over-reactive dynamic systems, and investors are not always rational. One imperfect but simple way to consider how the market perception of a company has shifted is to compare the change in the earnings per share (EPS) with the share price movement.

During the five years over which the share price declined, Tong Ren Tang Technologies's earnings per share (EPS) dropped by 2.0% each year. This reduction in EPS is less than the 15% annual reduction in the share price. This implies that the market is more cautious about the business these days.

The graphic below depicts how EPS has changed over time (unveil the exact values by clicking on the image).

We're pleased to report that the CEO is remunerated more modestly than most CEOs at similarly capitalized companies. It's always worth keeping an eye on CEO pay, but a more important question is whether the company will grow earnings throughout the years. Before buying or selling a stock, we always recommend a close examination of historic growth trends, available here..

What About Dividends?

When looking at investment returns, it is important to consider the difference between total shareholder return (TSR) and share price return. The TSR incorporates the value of any spin-offs or discounted capital raisings, along with any dividends, based on the assumption that the dividends are reinvested. It's fair to say that the TSR gives a more complete picture for stocks that pay a dividend. We note that for Tong Ren Tang Technologies the TSR over the last 5 years was -51%, which is better than the share price return mentioned above. And there's no prize for guessing that the dividend payments largely explain the divergence!

A Different Perspective

We regret to report that Tong Ren Tang Technologies shareholders are down 37% for the year (even including dividends) . Unfortunately, that's worse than the broader market decline of 8.8%. However, it could simply be that the share price has been impacted by broader market jitters. It might be worth keeping an eye on the fundamentals, in case there's a good opportunity. Unfortunately, last year's performance may indicate unresolved challenges, given that it was worse than the annualised loss of 13% over the last half decade. We realise that Baron Rothschild has said investors should "buy when there is blood on the streets", but we caution that investors should first be sure they are buying a high quality business. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Tong Ren Tang Technologies better, we need to consider many other factors. For example, we've discovered 2 warning signs for Tong Ren Tang Technologies that you should be aware of before investing here.