The excitement of investing in a company that can reverse its fortunes is a big draw for some speculators, so even companies that have no revenue, no profit, and a record of falling short, can manage to find investors. Sometimes these stories can cloud the minds of investors, leading them to invest with their emotions rather than on the merit of good company fundamentals. While a well funded company may sustain losses for years, it will need to generate a profit eventually, or else investors will move on and the company will wither away.
So if this idea of high risk and high reward doesn’t suit, you might be more interested in profitable, growing companies, like goeasy (TSE:GSY). While profit isn’t the sole metric that should be considered when investing, it’s worth recognising businesses that can consistently produce it.
View our latest analysis for goeasy
Even when EPS earnings per share (EPS) growth is unexceptional, company value can be created if this rate is sustained each year. So EPS growth can certainly encourage an investor to take note of a stock. goeasy’s EPS skyrocketed from CA$12.06 to CA$17.04, in just one year; a result that’s bound to bring a smile to shareholders. That’s a commendable gain of 41%.
It’s often helpful to take a look at earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) margins, as well as revenue growth, to get another take on the quality of the company’s growth. Not all of goeasy’s revenue this year is revenue from operations, so keep in mind the revenue and margin numbers used in this article might not be the best representation of the underlying business. While we note goeasy achieved similar EBIT margins to last year, revenue grew by a solid 13% to CA$804m. That’s a real positive.
The chart below shows how the company’s bottom and top lines have progressed over time. Click on the chart to see the exact numbers.
Fortunately, we’ve got access to analyst forecasts of goeasy’s future profits. You can do your own forecasts without looking, or you can take a peek at what the professionals are predicting.
It’s a necessity that company leaders act in the best interest of shareholders and so insider investment always comes as a reassurance to the market. Shareholders will be pleased by the fact that insiders own goeasy shares worth a considerable sum. Indeed, they have a considerable amount of wealth invested in it, currently valued at CA$612m. This totals to 21% of shares in the company. Enough to lead management’s decision making process down a path that brings the most benefit to shareholders. So there is opportunity here to invest in a company whose management have tangible incentives to deliver.
