World Houseware (Holdings) (HKG:713) shareholders are still up 57% over 5 years despite pulling back 11% in the past week

While World Houseware (Holdings) Limited (HKG:713) shareholders are probably generally happy, the stock hasn't had particularly good run recently, with the share price falling 18% in the last quarter. While that's not great, the returns over five years have been decent. It's good to see the share price is up 57% in that time, better than its market return of 50%. While the returns over the last 5 years have been good, we do feel sorry for those shareholders who haven't held shares that long, because the share price is down 43% in the last three years.

While this past week has detracted from the company's five-year return, let's look at the recent trends of the underlying business and see if the gains have been in alignment.

Because World Houseware (Holdings) made a loss in the last twelve months, we think the market is probably more focussed on revenue and revenue growth, at least for now. Generally speaking, companies without profits are expected to grow revenue every year, and at a good clip. As you can imagine, fast revenue growth, when maintained, often leads to fast profit growth.

In the last 5 years World Houseware (Holdings) saw its revenue shrink by 14% per year. Despite the lack of revenue growth, the stock has returned a respectable 9%, compound, over that time. To us that suggests that there probably isn't a lot of correlation between the past revenue performance and the share price, but a closer look at analyst forecasts and the bottom line may well explain a lot.

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

We like that insiders have been buying shares in the last twelve months. Having said that, most people consider earnings and revenue growth trends to be a more meaningful guide to the business. Dive deeper into the earnings by checking this interactive graph of World Houseware (Holdings)'s earnings, revenue and cash flow.

A Different Perspective

World Houseware (Holdings)'s TSR for the year was broadly in line with the market average, at 34%. Most would be happy with a gain, and it helps that the year's return is actually better than the average return over five years, which was 9%. Even if the share price growth slows down from here, there's a good chance that this is business worth watching in the long term. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand World Houseware (Holdings) better, we need to consider many other factors. To that end, you should learn about the 2 warning signs we've spotted with World Houseware (Holdings) (including 1 which is significant) .

If you like to buy stocks alongside management, then you might just love this free list of companies. (Hint: most of them are flying under the radar).

Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on Hong Kong 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.