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Investors can approximate the average market return by buying an index fund. When you buy individual stocks, you can make higher profits, but you also face the risk of under-performance. For example, the Wai Chun Group Holdings Limited (HKG:1013) share price is down 28% in the last year. That falls noticeably short of the market return of around 2.3%. At least the damage isn't so bad if you look at the last three years, since the stock is down 11% in that time. The falls have accelerated recently, with the share price down 13% in the last three months. Of course, this share price action may well have been influenced by the 5.6% decline in the broader market, throughout the period.
View our latest analysis for Wai Chun Group Holdings
Because Wai Chun Group Holdings is loss-making, 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.
Wai Chun Group Holdings grew its revenue by 93% over the last year. That's well above most other pre-profit companies. The share price drop of 28% over twelve months would be considered disappointing by many, so you might argue the company is getting little credit for its impressive revenue growth. On the bright side, if this company is moving profits in the right direction, top-line growth like that could be an opportunity. Our monkey brains haven't evolved to think exponentially, so humans do tend to underestimate companies that have exponential growth.
You can see how earnings and revenue have changed over time in the image below (click on the chart to see the exact values).
We consider it positive that insiders have made significant purchases in the last year. Even so, future earnings will be far more important to whether current shareholders make money. It might be well worthwhile taking a look at our free report on Wai Chun Group Holdings's earnings, revenue and cash flow.
A Different Perspective
Wai Chun Group Holdings shareholders are down 28% for the year, but the market itself is up 2.3%. Even the share prices of good stocks drop sometimes, but we want to see improvements in the fundamental metrics of a business, before getting too interested. Unfortunately, last year's performance may indicate unresolved challenges, given that it was worse than the annualised loss of 1.8% over the last half decade. We realise that Buffett has said investors should 'buy when there is blood on the streets', but we caution that investors should first be sure they are buying a high quality businesses. Investors who like to make money usually check up on insider purchases, such as the price paid, and total amount bought. You can find out about the insider purchases of Wai Chun Group Holdings by clicking this link.