Here's Why I Think Tung Ho Steel Enterprise (TPE:2006) Is An Interesting Stock

Some have more dollars than sense, they say, so even companies that have no revenue, no profit, and a record of falling short, can easily find investors. Unfortunately, high risk investments often have little probability of ever paying off, and many investors pay a price to learn their lesson.

In the age of tech-stock blue-sky investing, my choice may seem old fashioned; I still prefer profitable companies like Tung Ho Steel Enterprise (TPE:2006). While that doesn't make the shares worth buying at any price, you can't deny that successful capitalism requires profit, eventually. Loss-making companies are always racing against time to reach financial sustainability, but time is often a friend of the profitable company, especially if it is growing.

Check out our latest analysis for Tung Ho Steel Enterprise

How Fast Is Tung Ho Steel Enterprise Growing?

If you believe that markets are even vaguely efficient, then over the long term you'd expect a company's share price to follow its earnings per share (EPS). Therefore, there are plenty of investors who like to buy shares in companies that are growing EPS. It certainly is nice to see that Tung Ho Steel Enterprise has managed to grow EPS by 19% per year over three years. If the company can sustain that sort of growth, we'd expect shareholders to come away winners.

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. Unfortunately, Tung Ho Steel Enterprise's revenue dropped 5.5% last year, but the silver lining is that EBIT margins improved from 3.8% to 8.4%. That falls short of ideal.

In the chart below, you can see how the company has grown earnings, and revenue, over time. Click on the chart to see the exact numbers.

You don't drive with your eyes on the rear-view mirror, so you might be more interested in this free report showing analyst forecasts for Tung Ho Steel Enterprise's future profits.

Are Tung Ho Steel Enterprise Insiders Aligned With All Shareholders?

It makes me feel more secure owning shares in a company if insiders also own shares, thusly more closely aligning our interests. So it is good to see that Tung Ho Steel Enterprise insiders have a significant amount of capital invested in the stock. To be specific, they have NT$355m worth of shares. That shows significant buy-in, and may indicate conviction in the business strategy. Even though that's only about 1.0% of the company, it's enough money to indicate alignment between the leaders of the business and ordinary shareholders.

Is Tung Ho Steel Enterprise Worth Keeping An Eye On?

Given my belief that share price follows earnings per share you can easily imagine how I feel about Tung Ho Steel Enterprise's strong EPS growth. Further, the high level of insider ownership impresses me, and suggests that I'm not the only one who appreciates the EPS growth. Fast growth and confident insiders should be enough to warrant further research. So the answer is that I do think this is a good stock to follow along with. What about risks? Every company has them, and we've spotted 2 warning signs for Tung Ho Steel Enterprise you should know about.

Of course, you can do well (sometimes) buying stocks that are not growing earnings and do not have insiders buying shares. But as a growth investor I always like to check out companies that do have those features. You can access a free list of them here.

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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