Additional Considerations Required While Assessing FIBERPRO's (KOSDAQ:368770) Strong Earnings

Despite posting some strong earnings, the market for FIBERPRO, Inc.'s (KOSDAQ:368770) stock hasn't moved much. We did some digging, and we found some concerning factors in the details.

View our latest analysis for FIBERPRO

Zooming In On FIBERPRO's Earnings

One key financial ratio used to measure how well a company converts its profit to free cash flow (FCF) is the accrual ratio. 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. You could think of the accrual ratio from cashflow as the 'non-FCF profit ratio'.

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. Notably, there is some academic evidence that suggests that a high accrual ratio is a bad sign for near-term profits, generally speaking.

FIBERPRO has an accrual ratio of 0.36 for the year to December 2023. Unfortunately, that means its free cash flow was a lot less than its statutory profit, which makes us doubt the utility of profit as a guide. Over the last year it actually had negative free cash flow of ₩5.5b, in contrast to the aforementioned profit of ₩2.85b. We also note that FIBERPRO's free cash flow was actually negative last year as well, so we could understand if shareholders were bothered by its outflow of ₩5.5b. The good news for shareholders is that FIBERPRO's accrual ratio was much better last year, so this year's poor reading might simply be a case of a short term mismatch between profit and FCF. As a result, some shareholders may be looking for stronger cash conversion in the current year.

Note: we always recommend investors check balance sheet strength. Click here to be taken to our balance sheet analysis of FIBERPRO.

Our Take On FIBERPRO's Profit Performance

As we discussed above, we think FIBERPRO's earnings were not supported by free cash flow, which might concern some investors. For this reason, we think that FIBERPRO's statutory profits may be a bad guide to its underlying earnings power, and might give investors an overly positive impression of the company. On the bright side, the company showed enough improvement to book a profit this year, after losing money last year. At the end of the day, it's essential to consider more than just the factors above, if you want to understand the company properly. If you'd like to know more about FIBERPRO as a business, it's important to be aware of any risks it's facing. To help with this, we've discovered 3 warning signs (1 is a bit unpleasant!) that you ought to be aware of before buying any shares in FIBERPRO.

This note has only looked at a single factor that sheds light on the nature of FIBERPRO'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. 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.

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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.