Here's Why We Think Gujarat Apollo Industries (NSE:GUJAPOLLO) Is Well Worth Watching

It's only natural that many investors, especially those who are new to the game, prefer to buy shares in 'sexy' stocks with a good story, even if those businesses lose money. Unfortunately, high risk investments often have little probability of ever paying off, and many investors pay a price to learn their lesson.

So if you're like me, you might be more interested in profitable, growing companies, like Gujarat Apollo Industries (NSE:GUJAPOLLO). While that doesn't make the shares worth buying at any price, you can't deny that successful capitalism requires profit, eventually. Conversely, a loss-making company is yet to prove itself with profit, and eventually the sweet milk of external capital may run sour.

Check out our latest analysis for Gujarat Apollo Industries

Gujarat Apollo Industries's Earnings Per Share Are Growing.

The market is a voting machine in the short term, but a weighing machine in the long term, so share price follows earnings per share (EPS) eventually. It's no surprise, then, that I like to invest in companies with EPS growth. We can see that in the last three years Gujarat Apollo Industries grew its EPS by 14% per year. That's a pretty good rate, if the company can sustain it.

Careful consideration of revenue growth and earnings before interest and taxation (EBIT) margins can help inform a view on the sustainability of the recent profit growth. The good news is that Gujarat Apollo Industries is growing revenues, and EBIT margins improved by 8.5 percentage points to -26%, over the last year. Ticking those two boxes is a good sign of growth, in my book.

In the chart below, you can see how the company has grown earnings, and revenue, over time. To see the actual numbers, click on the chart.

Gujarat Apollo Industries isn't a huge company, given its market capitalization of ₹2.6b. That makes it extra important to check on its balance sheet strength.

Are Gujarat Apollo Industries Insiders Aligned With All Shareholders?

Many consider high insider ownership to be a strong sign of alignment between the leaders of a company and the ordinary shareholders. So as you can imagine, the fact that Gujarat Apollo Industries insiders own a significant number of shares certainly appeals to me. In fact, they own 74% of the company, so they will share in the same delights and challenges experienced by the ordinary shareholders. To me this is a good sign because it suggests they will be incentivised to build value for shareholders over the long term. With that sort of holding, insiders have about ₹1.9b riding on the stock, at current prices. That should be more than enough to keep them focussed on creating shareholder value!

It means a lot to see insiders invested in the business, but I find myself wondering if remuneration policies are shareholder friendly. Well, based on the CEO pay, I'd say they are indeed. I discovered that the median total compensation for the CEOs of companies like Gujarat Apollo Industries with market caps under ₹15b is about ₹3.0m.

The Gujarat Apollo Industries CEO received total compensation of only ₹175k in the year to . This could be considered a token amount, and indicates that the company does not need to use payment to motivate the CEO - that is often a good sign. CEO compensation is hardly the most important aspect of a company to consider, but when its reasonable that does give me a little more confidence that leadership are looking out for shareholder interests. I'd also argue reasonable pay levels attest to good decision making more generally.

Is Gujarat Apollo Industries Worth Keeping An Eye On?

One positive for Gujarat Apollo Industries is that it is growing EPS. That's nice to see. The fact that EPS is growing is a genuine positive for Gujarat Apollo Industries, but the pretty picture gets better than that. With a meaningful level of insider ownership, and reasonable CEO pay, a reasonable mind might conclude that this is one stock worth watching. We should say that we've discovered 3 warning signs for Gujarat Apollo Industries (1 is a bit unpleasant!) that you should be aware of before investing here.

You can invest in 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. 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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