Further weakness as Harbour Centre Development (HKG:51) drops 13% this week, taking five-year losses to 58%

Generally speaking long term investing is the way to go. But no-one is immune from buying too high. Zooming in on an example, the Harbour Centre Development Limited (HKG:51) share price dropped 60% in the last half decade. That's an unpleasant experience for long term holders. Even worse, it's down 15% in about a month, which isn't fun at all.

If the past week is anything to go by, investor sentiment for Harbour Centre Development isn't positive, so let's see if there's a mismatch between fundamentals and the share price.

Check out our latest analysis for Harbour Centre Development

Harbour Centre Development isn't currently profitable, so most analysts would look to revenue growth to get an idea of how fast the underlying business is growing. When a company doesn't make profits, we'd generally expect to see good 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.

In the last five years Harbour Centre Development saw its revenue shrink by 1.1% per year. That's not what investors generally want to see. With neither profit nor revenue growth, the loss of 10% per year doesn't really surprise us. The chance of imminent investor enthusiasm for this stock seems slimmer than Louise Brooks. Ultimately, it may be worth watching - should revenue pick up, the share price might follow.

You can see how earnings and revenue have changed over time in the image below (click on the chart to see the exact values).

This free interactive report on Harbour Centre Development's balance sheet strength is a great place to start, if you want to investigate the stock further.

What About The Total Shareholder Return (TSR)?

We've already covered Harbour Centre Development's share price action, but we should also mention its total shareholder return (TSR). The TSR attempts to capture the value of dividends (as if they were reinvested) as well as any spin-offs or discounted capital raisings offered to shareholders. Dividends have been really beneficial for Harbour Centre Development shareholders, and that cash payout explains why its total shareholder loss of 58%, over the last 5 years, isn't as bad as the share price return.

A Different Perspective

Harbour Centre Development shareholders are down 17% over twelve months, which isn't far from the market return of -19%. Unfortunately, last year's performance is a deterioration of an already poor long term track record, given the loss of 10% per year over the last five years. It will probably take a substantial improvement in the fundamental performance for the company to reverse this trend. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Harbour Centre Development better, we need to consider many other factors. For example, we've discovered 1 warning sign for Harbour Centre Development that you should be aware of before investing here.

If you would prefer to check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss this free list of companies that have proven they can grow earnings.

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.