As every investor would know, not every swing hits the sweet spot. But really bad investments should be rare. So take a moment to sympathize with the long term shareholders of Sino Harbour Holdings Group Limited (HKG:1663), who have seen the share price tank a massive 75% over a three year period. That would be a disturbing experience. And over the last year the share price fell 48%, so we doubt many shareholders are delighted. The falls have accelerated recently, with the share price down 12% in the last three months.

Check out our latest analysis for Sino Harbour Holdings Group

To paraphrase Benjamin Graham: Over the short term the market is a voting machine, but over the long term it's a weighing machine. One imperfect but simple way to consider how the market perception of a company has shifted is to compare the change in the earnings per share (EPS) with the share price movement.

During the three years that the share price fell, Sino Harbour Holdings Group's earnings per share (EPS) dropped by 29% each year. The share price decline of 37% is actually steeper than the EPS slippage. So it seems the market was too confident about the business, in the past. This increased caution is also evident in the rather low P/E ratio, which is sitting at 8.43.

You can see how EPS has changed over time in the image below (click on the chart to see the exact values).

It's good to see that there was some significant insider buying in the last three months. That's a positive. That said, we think earnings and revenue growth trends are even more important factors to consider. Dive deeper into the earnings by checking this interactive graph of Sino Harbour Holdings Group's earnings, revenue and cash flow.

What about the Total Shareholder Return (TSR)?

Investors should note that there's a difference between Sino Harbour Holdings Group's total shareholder return (TSR) and its share price change, which we've covered above. The TSR attempts to capture the value of dividends (as if they were reinvested) as well as any spin-offs or discounted capital raisings offered to shareholders. Its history of dividend payouts mean that Sino Harbour Holdings Group's TSR, which was a 73% drop over the last 3 years, was not as bad as the share price return.

A Different Perspective

We regret to report that Sino Harbour Holdings Group shareholders are down 48% for the year. Unfortunately, that's worse than the broader market decline of 0.2%. 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 14% 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 business. While it is well worth considering the different impacts that market conditions can have on the share price, there are other factors that are even more important. To that end, you should learn about the 4 warning signs we've spotted with Sino Harbour Holdings Group (including 1 which is is significant) .