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. Loss making companies can act like a sponge for capital - so investors should be cautious that they're not throwing good money after bad.
Despite being in the age of tech-stock blue-sky investing, many investors still adopt a more traditional strategy; buying shares in profitable companies like Cadogan Energy Solutions (LON:CAD). 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 Cadogan Energy Solutions
In business, profits are a key measure of success; and share prices tend to reflect earnings per share (EPS) performance. So a growing EPS generally brings attention to a company in the eyes of prospective investors. It is awe-striking that Cadogan Energy Solutions' EPS went from US$0.000053 to US$0.0068 in just one year. Even though that growth rate may not be repeated, that looks like a breakout improvement. This could point to the business hitting a point of inflection.
It's often helpful to take a look at earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) margins, as well as revenue growth, to get another take on the quality of the company's growth. The good news is that Cadogan Energy Solutions is growing revenues, and EBIT margins improved by 26.5 percentage points to 4.0%, over the last year. Ticking those two boxes is a good sign of growth, in our book.
You can take a look at the company's revenue and earnings growth trend, in the chart below. To see the actual numbers, click on the chart.
Since Cadogan Energy Solutions is no giant, with a market capitalisation of UK£5.9m, you should definitely check its cash and debt before getting too excited about its prospects.
Insider interest in a company always sparks a bit of intrigue and many investors are on the lookout for companies where insiders are putting their money where their mouth is. Because often, the purchase of stock is a sign that the buyer views it as undervalued. Of course, we can never be sure what insiders are thinking, we can only judge their actions.