The Asia Poly Holdings Berhad (KLSE:ASIAPLY) Share Price Is Down 90% So Some Shareholders Are Rather Upset

This month, we saw the Asia Poly Holdings Berhad (KLSE:ASIAPLY) up an impressive 43%. But will that repair the damage for the weary investors who have owned this stock as it declined over half a decade? Probably not. Five years have seen the share price descend precipitously, down a full 90%. So we don't gain too much confidence from the recent recovery. The important question is if the business itself justifies a higher share price in the long term.

We really feel for shareholders in this scenario. It's a good reminder of the importance of diversification, and it's worth keeping in mind there's more to life than money, anyway.

See our latest analysis for Asia Poly Holdings Berhad

Asia Poly Holdings Berhad 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.

Over half a decade Asia Poly Holdings Berhad reduced its trailing twelve month revenue by 0.05% for each year. That's not what investors generally want to see. If a business loses money, you want it to grow, so no surprises that the share price has dropped 37% each year in that time. It takes a certain kind of mental fortitude (or recklessness) to buy shares in a company that loses money and doesn't grow revenue. Fear of becoming a 'bagholder' may be keeping people away from this stock.

The company's revenue and earnings (over time) are depicted in the image below (click to see the exact numbers).

You can see how its balance sheet has strengthened (or weakened) over time in this free interactive graphic.

What about the Total Shareholder Return (TSR)?

We'd be remiss not to mention the difference between Asia Poly Holdings Berhad's total shareholder return (TSR) and its share price return. 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. Asia Poly Holdings Berhad's TSR of was a loss of 74% for the 5 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 16% in the twelve months, Asia Poly Holdings Berhad shareholders did even worse, losing 29%. 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. Regrettably, last year's performance caps off a bad run, with the shareholders facing a total loss of 24% 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 Asia Poly Holdings Berhad better, we need to consider many other factors. Even so, be aware that Asia Poly Holdings Berhad is showing 4 warning signs in our investment analysis , and 2 of those make us uncomfortable...

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

If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned.

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