As every investor would know, not every swing hits the sweet spot. But really big losses can really drag down an overall portfolio. So consider, for a moment, the misfortune of Comfort Gloves Berhad (KLSE:COMFORT) investors who have held the stock for three years as it declined a whopping 84%. That might cause some serious doubts about the merits of the initial decision to buy the stock, to put it mildly. And over the last year the share price fell 41%, so we doubt many shareholders are delighted. While a drop like that is definitely a body blow, money isn't as important as health and happiness.
Since shareholders are down over the longer term, lets look at the underlying fundamentals over the that time and see if they've been consistent with returns.
See our latest analysis for Comfort Gloves Berhad
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 flawed but reasonable way to assess how sentiment around a company has changed is to compare the earnings per share (EPS) with the share price.
Comfort Gloves Berhad saw its share price decline over the three years in which its EPS also dropped, falling to a loss. Since the company has fallen to a loss making position, it's hard to compare the change in EPS with the share price change. But it's safe to say we'd generally expect the share price to be lower as a result!
You can see below how EPS has changed over time (discover the exact values by clicking on the image).
Dive deeper into Comfort Gloves Berhad's key metrics by checking this interactive graph of Comfort Gloves Berhad's earnings, revenue and cash flow.
A Different Perspective
While the broader market lost about 1.7% in the twelve months, Comfort Gloves Berhad shareholders did even worse, losing 41%. 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 8% 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. 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. Consider risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 1 warning sign for Comfort Gloves Berhad you should know about.