While it may not be enough for some shareholders, we think it is good to see the Seritage Growth Properties (NYSE:SRG) share price up 21% in a single quarter. But will that heal all the wounds inflicted over 5 years of declines? Unlikely. Five years have seen the share price descend precipitously, down a full 74%. So we don't gain too much confidence from the recent recovery. The million dollar question is whether the company can justify a long term recovery.

So let's have a look and see if the longer term performance of the company has been in line with the underlying business' progress.

View our latest analysis for Seritage Growth Properties

Seritage Growth Properties 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 expect to see good revenue growth. That's because it's hard to be confident a company will be sustainable if revenue growth is negligible, and it never makes a profit.

In the last five years Seritage Growth Properties saw its revenue shrink by 26% per year. That puts it in an unattractive cohort, to put it mildly. So it's not that strange that the share price dropped 12% per year in that period. This kind of price performance makes us very wary, especially when combined with falling revenue. Of course, the poor performance could mean the market has been too severe selling down. That can happen.

The graphic below depicts how earnings and revenue have changed over time (unveil the exact values by clicking on the image).

You can see how its balance sheet has strengthened (or weakened) over time in this free interactive graphic.

A Different Perspective

Seritage Growth Properties shareholders are down 22% for the year, but the market itself is up 22%. However, keep in mind that even the best stocks will sometimes underperform the market over a twelve month period. Unfortunately, longer term shareholders are suffering worse, given the loss of 12% doled out over the last five years. We would want clear information suggesting the company will grow, before taking the view that the share price will stabilize. 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. Take risks, for example - Seritage Growth Properties has 2 warning signs (and 1 which can't be ignored) we think you should know about.

But note: Seritage Growth Properties may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies with past earnings growth (and further growth forecast).