Investors bid Auto Italia Holdings (HKG:720) up HK$122m despite increasing losses YoY, taking one-year return to 25%

These days it's easy to simply buy an index fund, and your returns should (roughly) match the market. But you can significantly boost your returns by picking above-average stocks. To wit, the Auto Italia Holdings Limited (HKG:720) share price is 25% higher than it was a year ago, much better than the market return of around 16% (not including dividends) in the same period. If it can keep that out-performance up over the long term, investors will do very well! Having said that, the longer term returns aren't so impressive, with stock gaining just 13% in three years.

The past week has proven to be lucrative for Auto Italia Holdings investors, so let's see if fundamentals drove the company's one-year performance.

View our latest analysis for Auto Italia Holdings

Given that Auto Italia Holdings didn't make a profit in the last twelve months, we'll focus on revenue growth to form a quick view of its business development. Generally speaking, companies without profits are expected to grow revenue every year, and at a good clip. 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 year Auto Italia Holdings saw its revenue shrink by 4.8%. The stock is up 25% in that time, a fine performance given the revenue drop. To us that means that there 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 graphic below depicts how earnings and revenue have changed over time (unveil the exact values by clicking on the image).

If you are thinking of buying or selling Auto Italia Holdings stock, you should check out this FREE detailed report on its balance sheet.

A Different Perspective

It's nice to see that Auto Italia Holdings shareholders have received a total shareholder return of 25% over the last year. There's no doubt those recent returns are much better than the TSR loss of 4% per year over five years. This makes us a little wary, but the business might have turned around its fortunes. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Auto Italia Holdings better, we need to consider many other factors. Even so, be aware that Auto Italia Holdings is showing 3 warning signs in our investment analysis , and 1 of those makes us a bit uncomfortable...

Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking elsewhere. So take a peek at this free list of companies we expect will 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.