Investors Who Bought KOALA Financial Group (HKG:8226) Shares Five Years Ago Are Now Down 95%

It's nice to see the KOALA Financial Group Limited (HKG:8226) share price up 13% in a week. But spare a thought for the long term holders, who have held the stock as it bled value over the last five years. In fact, the share price has tumbled down a mountain to land 95% lower after that period. It's true that the recent bounce could signal the company is turning over a new leaf, but we are not so sure. The real question is whether the business can leave its past behind and improve itself over the years ahead.

While a drop like that is definitely a body blow, money isn't as important as health and happiness.

View our latest analysis for KOALA Financial Group

To quote Buffett, 'Ships will sail around the world but the Flat Earth Society will flourish. There will continue to be wide discrepancies between price and value in the marketplace...' By comparing earnings per share (EPS) and share price changes over time, we can get a feel for how investor attitudes to a company have morphed over time.

KOALA Financial Group became profitable within the last five years. Most would consider that to be a good thing, so it's counter-intuitive to see the share price declining. Other metrics might give us a better handle on how its value is changing over time.

Arguably, the revenue drop of 22% a year for half a decade suggests that the company can't grow in the long term. This has probably encouraged some shareholders to sell down the stock.

You can see how earnings and revenue have changed over time in the image below (click on the chart to see the exact values).

SEHK:8226 Income Statement April 7th 2020
SEHK:8226 Income Statement April 7th 2020

This free interactive report on KOALA Financial Group's balance sheet strength is a great place to start, if you want to investigate the stock further.

A Different Perspective

While the broader market lost about 18% in the twelve months, KOALA Financial Group shareholders did even worse, losing 56%. 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. Unfortunately, last year's performance may indicate unresolved challenges, given that it was worse than the annualised loss of 45% over the last half decade. 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 KOALA Financial Group better, we need to consider many other factors. Like risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 5 warning signs for KOALA Financial Group (of which 2 are a bit concerning!) you should know about.

We will like KOALA Financial Group better if we see some big insider buys. While we wait, check out this free list of growing companies with considerable, recent, insider buying.

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

We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Thank you for reading.