Yahoo Finance If EPS Growth Is Important To You, ARC Resources (TSE:ARX) Presents An Opportunity
For beginners, it can seem like a good idea (and an exciting prospect) to buy a company that tells a good story to investors, even if it currently lacks a track record of revenue and profit. But the reality is that when a company loses money each year, for long enough, its investors will usually take their share of those losses. 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.
If this kind of company isn't your style, you like companies that generate revenue, and even earn profits, then you may well be interested in ARC Resources (TSE:ARX). Now this is not to say that the company presents the best investment opportunity around, but profitability is a key component to success in business.
See our latest analysis for ARC Resources
How Quickly Is ARC Resources Increasing Earnings Per Share?
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) outcomes. Therefore, there are plenty of investors who like to buy shares in companies that are growing EPS. To the delight of shareholders, ARC Resources has achieved impressive annual EPS growth of 39%, compound, over the last three years. While that sort of growth rate isn't sustainable for long, it certainly catches the eye of prospective investors.
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. The good news is that ARC Resources is growing revenues, and EBIT margins improved by 63.4 percentage points to 14%, over the last year. That's great to see, on both counts.
In the chart below, you can see how the company has grown earnings and revenue, over time. For finer detail, click on the image.
Of course the knack is to find stocks that have their best days in the future, not in the past. You could base your opinion on past performance, of course, but you may also want to check this interactive graph of professional analyst EPS forecasts for ARC Resources.
Are ARC Resources Insiders Aligned With All Shareholders?
We would not expect to see insiders owning a large percentage of a CA$12b company like ARC Resources. But we do take comfort from the fact that they are investors in the company. To be specific, they have CA$29m worth of shares. That shows significant buy-in, and may indicate conviction in the business strategy. Even though that's only about 0.2% of the company, it's enough money to indicate alignment between the leaders of the business and ordinary shareholders.
It means a lot to see insiders invested in the business, but shareholders may be wondering if remuneration policies are in their best interest. A brief analysis of the CEO compensation suggests they are. The median total compensation for CEOs of companies similar in size to ARC Resources, with market caps between CA$5.2b and CA$15b, is around CA$6.0m.
ARC Resources offered total compensation worth CA$4.4m to its CEO in the year to December 2021. That comes in below the average for similar sized companies and seems pretty reasonable. CEO remuneration levels are not the most important metric for investors, but when the pay is modest, that does support enhanced alignment between the CEO and the ordinary shareholders. Generally, arguments can be made that reasonable pay levels attest to good decision-making.
Should You Add ARC Resources To Your Watchlist?
ARC Resources' earnings have taken off in quite an impressive fashion. The cherry on top is that insiders own a bucket-load of shares, and the CEO pay seems really quite reasonable. The sharp increase in earnings could signal good business momentum. ARC Resources is certainly doing some things right and is well worth investigating. We don't want to rain on the parade too much, but we did also find 4 warning signs for ARC Resources that you need to be mindful of.
The beauty of investing is that you can invest in almost any company you want. But if you prefer to focus on stocks that have demonstrated insider buying, here is a list of companies with insider buying in the last three months.
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.
