Statistically speaking, long term investing is a profitable endeavour. But unfortunately, some companies simply don't succeed. Zooming in on an example, the Hui Xian Real Estate Investment Trust (HKG:87001) share price dropped 70% in the last half decade. That is extremely sub-optimal, to say the least.

After losing 9.1% this past week, it's worth investigating the company's fundamentals to see what we can infer from past performance.

View our latest analysis for Hui Xian Real Estate Investment Trust

Hui Xian Real Estate Investment Trust isn't currently profitable, so most analysts would look to revenue growth to get an idea of how fast the underlying business is growing. Shareholders of unprofitable companies usually expect strong revenue growth. As you can imagine, fast revenue growth, when maintained, often leads to fast profit growth.

Over half a decade Hui Xian Real Estate Investment Trust reduced its trailing twelve month revenue by 9.2% for each year. That puts it in an unattractive cohort, to put it mildly. It seems appropriate, then, that the share price slid about 11% annually during that time. We don't generally like to own companies that lose money and don't grow revenues. You might be better off spending your money on a leisure activity. This looks like a really risky stock to buy, at a glance.

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

Take a more thorough look at Hui Xian Real Estate Investment Trust's financial health with this free report on its balance sheet.

What About Dividends?

It is important to consider the total shareholder return, as well as the share price return, for any given stock. Whereas the share price return only reflects the change in the share price, the TSR includes the value of dividends (assuming they were reinvested) and the benefit of any discounted capital raising or spin-off. So for companies that pay a generous dividend, the TSR is often a lot higher than the share price return. As it happens, Hui Xian Real Estate Investment Trust's TSR for the last 5 years was -57%, which exceeds the share price return mentioned earlier. This is largely a result of its dividend payments!

A Different Perspective

We're pleased to report that Hui Xian Real Estate Investment Trust shareholders have received a total shareholder return of 31% over one year. That's including the dividend. Notably the five-year annualised TSR loss of 9% per year compares very unfavourably with the recent share price performance. This makes us a little wary, but the business might have turned around its fortunes. I find it very interesting to look at share price over the long term as a proxy for business performance. But to truly gain insight, we need to consider other information, too. To that end, you should learn about the 2 warning signs we've spotted with Hui Xian Real Estate Investment Trust (including 1 which is significant) .

If you are like me, then you will not want to miss this free list of growing companies that insiders are buying.

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.