If you are building a properly diversified stock portfolio, the chances are some of your picks will perform badly. Long term Shenzhen Glory Medical Co.,Ltd. (SZSE:002551) shareholders know that all too well, since the share price is down considerably over three years. Unfortunately, they have held through a 58% decline in the share price in that time. And the ride hasn't got any smoother in recent times over the last year, with the price 39% lower in that time. More recently, the share price has dropped a further 29% in a month.

Since Shenzhen Glory MedicalLtd has shed CN¥431m from its value in the past 7 days, let's see if the longer term decline has been driven by the business' economics.

Shenzhen Glory MedicalLtd 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 hope to see good revenue growth. Some companies are willing to postpone profitability to grow revenue faster, but in that case one would hope for good top-line growth to make up for the lack of earnings.

In the last three years Shenzhen Glory MedicalLtd saw its revenue shrink by 26% per year. That's definitely a weaker result than most pre-profit companies report. With no profits and falling revenue it is no surprise that investors have been dumping the stock, pushing the price down by 16% per year over that time. Bagholders or 'baggies' are people who buy more of a stock as the price collapses. They are then left 'holding the bag' if the shares turn out to be worthless. After losing money on a declining business with falling stock price, we always consider whether eager bagholders are still offering us a reasonable exit price.

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

Balance sheet strength is crucial. It might be well worthwhile taking a look at our free report on how its financial position has changed over time.

A Different Perspective

While the broader market lost about 12% in the twelve months, Shenzhen Glory MedicalLtd shareholders did even worse, losing 39%. 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. Unfortunately, last year's performance may indicate unresolved challenges, given that it was worse than the annualised loss of 9% over the last half decade. We realise that Baron Rothschild 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 business. 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. Even so, be aware that Shenzhen Glory MedicalLtd is showing 1 warning sign in our investment analysis , you should know about...

If you like to buy stocks alongside management, then you might just love this free list of companies. (Hint: many of them are unnoticed AND have attractive valuation).

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