Yahoo Finance Is Now The Time To Put New Oriental Education & Technology Group (NYSE:EDU) On Your Watchlist?
It's only natural that many investors, especially those who are new to the game, prefer to buy shares in 'sexy' stocks with a good story, even if those businesses lose money. 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 New Oriental Education & Technology Group (NYSE:EDU). While that doesn't make the shares worth buying at any price, you can't deny that successful capitalism requires profit, eventually. In comparison, loss making companies act like a sponge for capital - but unlike such a sponge they do not always produce something when squeezed.
View our latest analysis for New Oriental Education & Technology Group
New Oriental Education & Technology Group's Earnings Per Share Are 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). That means EPS growth is considered a real positive by most successful long-term investors. As a tree reaches steadily for the sky, New Oriental Education & Technology Group's EPS has grown 19% each year, compound, over three years. As a general rule, we'd say that if a company can keep up that sort of growth, shareholders will be smiling.
I like to take a look at earnings before interest and (EBIT) tax margins, as well as revenue growth, to get another take on the quality of the company's growth. The good news is that New Oriental Education & Technology Group is growing revenues, and EBIT margins improved by 3.3 percentage points to 13%, over the last year. That's great to see, on both counts.
The chart below shows how the company's bottom and top lines have progressed over time. To see the actual numbers, click on the chart.
Fortunately, we've got access to analyst forecasts of New Oriental Education & Technology Group's future profits. You can do your own forecasts without looking, or you can take a peek at what the professionals are predicting.
Are New Oriental Education & Technology Group Insiders Aligned With All Shareholders?
We would not expect to see insiders owning a large percentage of a US$20b company like New Oriental Education & Technology Group. But we do take comfort from the fact that they are investors in the company. Notably, they have an enormous stake in the company, worth US$2.6b. That equates to 13% of the company, making insiders powerful and aligned with other shareholders. Very encouraging.
Should You Add New Oriental Education & Technology Group To Your Watchlist?
For growth investors like me, New Oriental Education & Technology Group's raw rate of earnings growth is a beacon in the night. 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. Of course, identifying quality businesses is only half the battle; investors need to know whether the stock is undervalued. So you might want to consider this free discounted cashflow valuation of New Oriental Education & Technology Group.
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. Thank you for reading.
