Easy Trip Planners' (NSE:EASEMYTRIP) Earnings Are Of Questionable Quality

Easy Trip Planners Limited (NSE:EASEMYTRIP) announced strong profits, but the stock was stagnant. We did some digging, and we found some concerning factors in the details.

See our latest analysis for Easy Trip Planners

A Closer Look At Easy Trip Planners' 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.

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.

Easy Trip Planners has an accrual ratio of 0.67 for the year to September 2021. That means it didn't generate anywhere near enough free cash flow to match its profit. Statistically speaking, that's a real negative for future earnings. To wit, it produced free cash flow of ₹638m during the period, falling well short of its reported profit of ₹949.1m. We note, however, that Easy Trip Planners grew its free cash flow over the last year.

That might leave you wondering what analysts are forecasting in terms of future profitability. Luckily, you can click here to see an interactive graph depicting future profitability, based on their estimates.

Our Take On Easy Trip Planners' Profit Performance

As we discussed above, we think Easy Trip Planners' earnings were not supported by free cash flow, which might concern some investors. For this reason, we think that Easy Trip Planners' statutory profits may be a bad guide to its underlying earnings power, and might give investors an overly positive impression of the company. But on the bright side, its earnings per share have grown at an extremely impressive rate over the last three years. 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. Keep in mind, when it comes to analysing a stock it's worth noting the risks involved. Case in point: We've spotted 3 warning signs for Easy Trip Planners you should be mindful of and 1 of these doesn't sit too well with us.

This note has only looked at a single factor that sheds light on the nature of Easy Trip Planners' 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. So you may wish to see this free collection of companies boasting high return on equity, or this list of stocks that insiders are buying.

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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