Does Affluent Foundation Holdings (HKG:1757) Deserve A Spot On Your Watchlist?

Investors are often guided by the idea of discovering 'the next big thing', even if that means buying 'story stocks' without any revenue, let alone profit. But the reality is that when a company loses money each year, for long enough, its investors will usually take their share of those losses. 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.

In contrast to all that, many investors prefer to focus on companies like Affluent Foundation Holdings (HKG:1757), which has not only revenues, but also profits. Now this is not to say that the company presents the best investment opportunity around, but profitability is a key component to success in business.

See our latest analysis for Affluent Foundation Holdings

Affluent Foundation Holdings' Improving Profits

Strong earnings per share (EPS) results are an indicator of a company achieving solid profits, which investors look upon favourably and so the share price tends to reflect great EPS performance. So for many budding investors, improving EPS is considered a good sign. It's an outstanding feat for Affluent Foundation Holdings to have grown EPS from HK$0.00054 to HK$0.0025 in just one year. While it's difficult to sustain growth at that level, it bodes well for the company's outlook for the future.

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. EBIT margins for Affluent Foundation Holdings remained fairly unchanged over the last year, however the company should be pleased to report its revenue growth for the period of 14% to HK$512m. That's progress.

You can take a look at the company's revenue and earnings growth trend, in the chart below. To see the actual numbers, click on the chart.

Affluent Foundation Holdings isn't a huge company, given its market capitalisation of HK$240m. That makes it extra important to check on its balance sheet strength.

Are Affluent Foundation Holdings Insiders Aligned With All Shareholders?

Seeing insiders owning a large portion of the shares on issue is often a good sign. Their incentives will be aligned with the investors and there's less of a probability in a sudden sell-off that would impact the share price. So as you can imagine, the fact that Affluent Foundation Holdings insiders own a significant number of shares certainly is appealing. In fact, they own 75% of the company, so they will share in the same delights and challenges experienced by the ordinary shareholders. This makes it apparent they will be incentivised to plan for the long term - a positive for shareholders with a sit and hold strategy. In terms of absolute value, insiders have HK$180m invested in the business, at the current share price. That's nothing to sneeze at!

While it's always good to see some strong conviction in the company from insiders through heavy investment, it's also important for shareholders to ask if management compensation policies are reasonable. Our quick analysis into CEO remuneration would seem to indicate they are. Our analysis has discovered that the median total compensation for the CEOs of companies like Affluent Foundation Holdings with market caps under HK$1.6b is about HK$1.8m.

The Affluent Foundation Holdings CEO received HK$1.3m in compensation for the year ending March 2021. That is actually below the median for CEO's of similarly sized companies. CEO remuneration levels are not the most important metric for investors, but when the pay is modest, that does support enhanced alignment between the CEO and the ordinary shareholders. Generally, arguments can be made that reasonable pay levels attest to good decision-making.

Does Affluent Foundation Holdings Deserve A Spot On Your Watchlist?

Affluent Foundation Holdings' earnings per share have been soaring, with growth rates sky high. The cherry on top is that insiders own a bucket-load of shares, and the CEO pay seems really quite reasonable. The sharp increase in earnings could signal good business momentum. Affluent Foundation Holdings is certainly doing some things right and is well worth investigating. Still, you should learn about the 2 warning signs we've spotted with Affluent Foundation Holdings.

The beauty of investing is that you can invest in almost any company you want. But if you prefer to focus on stocks that have demonstrated insider buying, here is a list of companies with insider buying in the last three months.

Please note the insider transactions discussed in this article refer to reportable transactions in the relevant jurisdiction.

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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.