GSH (SGX:BDX) investors are sitting on a loss of 43% if they invested five years ago

Ideally, your overall portfolio should beat the market average. But the main game is to find enough winners to more than offset the losers At this point some shareholders may be questioning their investment in GSH Corporation Limited (SGX:BDX), since the last five years saw the share price fall 43%.

So let's have a look and see if the longer term performance of the company has been in line with the underlying business' progress.

See our latest analysis for GSH

Because GSH made a loss in the last twelve months, we think the market is probably more focussed on revenue and revenue growth, at least for now. Shareholders of unprofitable companies usually expect strong revenue growth. Some companies are willing to postpone profitability to grow revenue faster, but in that case one does expect good top-line growth.

In the last five years GSH saw its revenue shrink by 4.0% per year. That's not what investors generally want to see. The stock hasn't done well for shareholders in the last five years, falling 7%, annualized. But it doesn't surprise given the falling revenue. Without profits, its hard to see how shareholders win if the revenue keeps falling.

The graphic below depicts how earnings and revenue have changed over time (unveil the exact values by clicking on the image).

earnings-and-revenue-growth

We like that insiders have been buying shares in the last twelve months. Having said that, most people consider earnings and revenue growth trends to be a more meaningful guide to the business. This free interactive report on GSH's earnings, revenue and cash flow is a great place to start, if you want to investigate the stock further.

A Different Perspective

While it's never nice to take a loss, GSH shareholders can take comfort that their trailing twelve month loss of 1.2% wasn't as bad as the market loss of around 1.7%. Of far more concern is the 7% p.a. loss served to shareholders over the last five years. This sort of share price action isn't particularly encouraging, but at least the losses are slowing. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand GSH better, we need to consider many other factors. Consider risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 3 warning signs for GSH you should know about.

GSH is not the only stock that insiders are buying. For those who like to find winning investments this free list of growing 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 Singaporean 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.