Should You Use Altareit's (EPA:AREIT) Statutory Earnings To Analyse It?

Many investors consider it preferable to invest in profitable companies over unprofitable ones, because profitability suggests a business is sustainable. Having said that, sometimes statutory profit levels are not a good guide to ongoing profitability, because some short term one-off factor has impacted profit levels. This article will consider whether Altareit's (EPA:AREIT) statutory profits are a good guide to its underlying earnings.

It's good to see that over the last twelve months Altareit made a profit of €81.7m on revenue of €3.19b. In the chart below, you can see that its profit and revenue have both grown over the last three years, although its profit has slipped in the last twelve months.

Check out our latest analysis for Altareit

Not all profits are equal, and we can learn more about the nature of a company's past profitability by diving deeper into the financial statements. Today, we'll discuss Altareit's free cashflow relative to its earnings, and consider what that tells us about the company. Note: we always recommend investors check balance sheet strength. Click here to be taken to our balance sheet analysis of Altareit.

Zooming In On Altareit'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. The ratio shows us how much a company's profit exceeds its FCF.

That means a negative accrual ratio is a good thing, because it shows that the company is bringing in more free cash flow than its profit would suggest. While having an accrual ratio above zero is of little concern, we do think it's worth noting when a company has a relatively high accrual ratio. Notably, there is some academic evidence that suggests that a high accrual ratio is a bad sign for near-term profits, generally speaking.

Altareit has an accrual ratio of -0.12 for the year to June 2020. That implies it has good cash conversion, and implies that its free cash flow solidly exceeded its profit last year. Indeed, in the last twelve months it reported free cash flow of €243m, well over the €81.7m it reported in profit. Altareit shareholders are no doubt pleased that free cash flow improved over the last twelve months.

Our Take On Altareit's Profit Performance

As we discussed above, Altareit has perfectly satisfactory free cash flow relative to profit. Because of this, we think Altareit's earnings potential is at least as good as it seems, and maybe even better! And on top of that, its earnings per share have grown at 68% per year over the last three years. Of course, we've only just scratched the surface when it comes to analysing its earnings; one could also consider margins, forecast growth, and return on investment, among other factors. In light of this, if you'd like to do more analysis on the company, it's vital to be informed of the risks involved. Every company has risks, and we've spotted 2 warning signs for Altareit (of which 1 shouldn't be ignored!) you should know about.

Today we've zoomed in on a single data point to better understand the nature of Altareit'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. 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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