BQE Water's (CVE:BQE) Profits Appear To Have Quality Issues

Following the solid earnings report from BQE Water Inc. (CVE:BQE), the market responded by bidding up the stock price. Despite this, our analysis suggests that there are some factors weakening the foundations of those good profit numbers.

See our latest analysis for BQE Water

Examining Cashflow Against BQE Water's Earnings

As finance nerds would already know, the accrual ratio from cashflow is a key measure for assessing how well a company's free cash flow (FCF) matches its profit. To get the accrual ratio we first subtract FCF from profit for a period, and then divide that number by the average operating assets for the period. This ratio tells us how much of a company's profit is not backed by free cashflow.

As a result, a negative accrual ratio is a positive for the company, and a positive accrual ratio is a negative. That is not intended to imply we should worry about a positive accrual ratio, but it's worth noting where the accrual ratio is rather high. That's because some academic studies have suggested that high accruals ratios tend to lead to lower profit or less profit growth.

BQE Water has an accrual ratio of 0.33 for the year to June 2021. We can therefore deduce that its free cash flow fell well short of covering its statutory profit, suggesting we might want to think twice before putting a lot of weight on the latter. Over the last year it actually had negative free cash flow of CA$399k, in contrast to the aforementioned profit of CA$1.52m. We saw that FCF was CA$441k a year ago though, so BQE Water has at least been able to generate positive FCF in the past. The good news for shareholders is that BQE Water's accrual ratio was much better last year, so this year's poor reading might simply be a case of a short term mismatch between profit and FCF. As a result, some shareholders may be looking for stronger cash conversion in the current year.

Note: we always recommend investors check balance sheet strength. Click here to be taken to our balance sheet analysis of BQE Water.

Our Take On BQE Water's Profit Performance

As we discussed above, we think BQE Water's earnings were not supported by free cash flow, which might concern some investors. For this reason, we think that BQE Water's statutory profits may be a bad guide to its underlying earnings power, and might give investors an overly positive impression of the company. But the happy news is that, while acknowledging we have to look beyond the statutory numbers, those numbers are still improving, with EPS growing at a very high rate over the last year. The goal of this article has been to assess how well we can rely on the statutory earnings to reflect the company's potential, but there is plenty more to consider. If you'd like to know more about BQE Water as a business, it's important to be aware of any risks it's facing. When we did our research, we found 2 warning signs for BQE Water (1 is potentially serious!) that we believe deserve your full attention.

This note has only looked at a single factor that sheds light on the nature of BQE Water's profit. But there are plenty of other ways to inform your opinion of a company. Some people consider a high return on equity to be a good sign of a quality business. While it might take a little research on your behalf, you may find this free collection of companies boasting high return on equity, or this list of stocks that insiders are buying to be useful.

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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.
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