LG Display (KRX:034220) shareholders are up 7.0% this past week, but still in the red over the last three years

Many investors define successful investing as beating the market average over the long term. But its virtually certain that sometimes you will buy stocks that fall short of the market average returns. Unfortunately, that's been the case for longer term LG Display Co., Ltd. (KRX:034220) shareholders, since the share price is down 51% in the last three years, falling well short of the market decline of around 6.7%. But it's up 7.0% in the last week.

While the stock has risen 7.0% in the past week but long term shareholders are still in the red, let's see what the fundamentals can tell us.

View our latest analysis for LG Display

LG Display isn't currently profitable, so most analysts would look to revenue growth to get an idea of how fast the underlying business is growing. Generally speaking, companies without profits are expected to grow revenue every year, and at a good clip. That's because fast revenue growth can be easily extrapolated to forecast profits, often of considerable size.

In the last three years LG Display saw its revenue shrink by 7.0% per year. That is not a good result. With revenue in decline, and profit but a dream, we can understand why the share price has been declining at 15% per year. Having said that, if growth is coming in the future, now may be the low ebb for the company. We'd be pretty wary of this one until it makes a profit, because we don't specialize in finding turnaround situations.

You can see below how earnings and revenue have changed over time (discover the exact values by clicking on the image).

LG Display is well known by investors, and plenty of clever analysts have tried to predict the future profit levels. You can see what analysts are predicting for LG Display in this interactive graph of future profit estimates.

What About The Total Shareholder Return (TSR)?

We've already covered LG Display'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. LG Display's TSR of was a loss of 47% for the 3 years. That wasn't as bad as its share price return, because it has paid dividends.

A Different Perspective

While the broader market lost about 3.9% in the twelve months, LG Display shareholders did even worse, losing 18%. Having said that, it's inevitable that some stocks will be oversold in a falling market. The key is to keep your eyes on the fundamental developments. Regrettably, last year's performance caps off a bad run, with the shareholders facing a total loss of 6% 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. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand LG Display better, we need to consider many other factors. For example, we've discovered 1 warning sign for LG Display that you should be aware of before investing here.

For those who like to find winning investments this free list of undervalued companies with recent insider purchasing, could be just the ticket.

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