Myers Industries' (NYSE:MYE) Conservative Accounting Might Explain Soft Earnings

Myers Industries, Inc.'s (NYSE:MYE) stock was strong despite it releasing a soft earnings report last week. We think that investors might be looking at some positive factors beyond the earnings numbers.

Check out our latest analysis for Myers Industries

A Closer Look At Myers Industries' Earnings

One key financial ratio used to measure how well a company converts its profit to free cash flow (FCF) is the accrual ratio. In plain english, this ratio subtracts FCF from net profit, and divides that number by the company's average operating assets over that 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. While it's not a problem to have a positive accrual ratio, indicating a certain level of non-cash profits, a high accrual ratio is arguably a bad thing, because it indicates paper profits are not matched by cash flow. To quote a 2014 paper by Lewellen and Resutek, "firms with higher accruals tend to be less profitable in the future".

Myers Industries has an accrual ratio of -0.10 for the year to December 2024. That indicates that its free cash flow was a fair bit more than its statutory profit. To wit, it produced free cash flow of US$55m during the period, dwarfing its reported profit of US$7.20m. Myers Industries' free cash flow actually declined over the last year, which is disappointing, like non-biodegradable balloons. Having said that, there is more to the story. We can see that unusual items have impacted its statutory profit, and therefore the accrual ratio.

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.

How Do Unusual Items Influence Profit?

Myers Industries' profit was reduced by unusual items worth US$33m in the last twelve months, and this helped it produce high cash conversion, as reflected by its unusual items. This is what you'd expect to see where a company has a non-cash charge reducing paper profits. While deductions due to unusual items are disappointing in the first instance, there is a silver lining. When we analysed the vast majority of listed companies worldwide, we found that significant unusual items are often not repeated. And, after all, that's exactly what the accounting terminology implies. In the twelve months to December 2024, Myers Industries had a big unusual items expense. As a result, we can surmise that the unusual items made its statutory profit significantly weaker than it would otherwise be.

Our Take On Myers Industries' Profit Performance

In conclusion, both Myers Industries' accrual ratio and its unusual items suggest that its statutory earnings are probably reasonably conservative. Looking at all these factors, we'd say that Myers Industries' underlying earnings power is at least as good as the statutory numbers would make it seem. With this in mind, we wouldn't consider investing in a stock unless we had a thorough understanding of the risks. For example, Myers Industries has 4 warning signs (and 1 which is concerning) we think you should know about.

After our examination into the nature of Myers Industries' profit, we've come away optimistic for the company. But there is always more to discover if you are capable of focussing your mind on minutiae. 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 with high insider ownership.

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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.