Should You Be Adding Anant Raj (NSE:ANANTRAJ) To Your Watchlist Today?

The excitement of investing in a company that can reverse its fortunes is a big draw for some speculators, so even companies that have no revenue, no profit, and a record of falling short, can manage to find investors. Unfortunately, these high risk investments often have little probability of ever paying off, and many investors pay a price to learn their lesson. 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 Anant Raj (NSE:ANANTRAJ), which has not only revenues, but also profits. While profit isn't the sole metric that should be considered when investing, it's worth recognising businesses that can consistently produce it.

See our latest analysis for Anant Raj

How Fast Is Anant Raj Growing Its Earnings Per Share?

In the last three years Anant Raj's earnings per share took off; so much so that it's a bit disingenuous to use these figures to try and deduce long term estimates. As a result, we'll zoom in on growth over the last year, instead. Impressively, Anant Raj's EPS catapulted from ₹2.99 to ₹6.03, over the last year. Year on year growth of 102% is certainly a sight to behold. Shareholders will be hopeful that this is a sign of the company reaching an inflection point.

One way to double-check a company's growth is to look at how its revenue, and earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) margins are changing. The music to the ears of Anant Raj shareholders is that EBIT margins have grown from 14% to 21% in the last 12 months and revenues are on an upwards trend as well. Ticking those two boxes is a good sign of growth, in our book.

In the chart below, you can see how the company has grown earnings and revenue, over time. For finer detail, click on the image.

While profitability drives the upside, prudent investors always check the balance sheet, too.

Are Anant Raj 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 Anant Raj insiders own a significant number of shares certainly is appealing. In fact, they own 57% of the company, so they will share in the same delights and challenges experienced by the ordinary shareholders. Intuition will tell you this is a good sign because it suggests they will be incentivised to build value for shareholders over the long term. at the current share price. This is an incredible endorsement from them.

It's good to see that insiders are invested in the company, but are remuneration levels reasonable? Our quick analysis into CEO remuneration would seem to indicate they are. For companies with market capitalisations between ₹83b and ₹266b, like Anant Raj, the median CEO pay is around ₹36m.

The Anant Raj CEO received total compensation of just ₹12m in the year to March 2023. That looks like a modest pay packet, and may hint at a certain respect for the interests of shareholders. While the level of CEO compensation shouldn't be the biggest factor in how the company is viewed, modest remuneration is a positive, because it suggests that the board keeps shareholder interests in mind. It can also be a sign of good governance, more generally.

Does Anant Raj Deserve A Spot On Your Watchlist?

Anant Raj's earnings per share have been soaring, with growth rates sky high. An added bonus for those interested is that management hold a heap of stock and the CEO pay is quite reasonable, illustrating good cash management. The strong EPS improvement suggests the businesses is humming along. Anant Raj certainly ticks a few boxes, so we think it's probably well worth further consideration. We don't want to rain on the parade too much, but we did also find 1 warning sign for Anant Raj that you need to be mindful of.

There's always the possibility of doing well buying stocks that are not growing earnings and do not have insiders buying shares. But for those who consider these important metrics, we encourage you to check out companies that do have those features. You can access a tailored list of Indian companies which have demonstrated growth backed by recent insider purchases.

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.