When StealthGas Inc’s (NASDAQ:GASS) announced its latest earnings (31 December 2017), I wanted to understand how these figures stacked up against its past performance. The two benchmarks I used were StealthGas’s average earnings over the past couple of years, and its industry performance. These are useful yardsticks to help me gauge whether or not GASS actually performed well. Below is a quick commentary on how I see GASS has performed. Check out our latest analysis for StealthGas

Commentary On GASS’s Past Performance

For the most up-to-date info, I use data from the most recent 12 months, which annualizes the most recent half-year data, or in some cases, the latest annual report is already the most recent financial year data. This enables me to analyze various companies on a more comparable basis, using the latest information. For StealthGas, its most recent trailing-twelve-month earnings is -US$1.22M, which, against the previous year’s level, has become less negative. Since these values are somewhat short-term thinking, I have calculated an annualized five-year value for GASS’s net income, which stands at US$10.09M.

We can further assess StealthGas’s loss by looking at what the industry has been experiencing over the past few years. Each year, for the past five years StealthGas’s top-line has increased by a mere 4.70%, on average. The company’s inability to breakeven has been aided by the relatively flat top-line in the past. Inspecting growth from a sector-level, the US oil and gas industry has been growing its average earnings by double-digit 26.40% over the past twelve months, . This is a turnaround from a volatile drop of -8.09% in the past couple of years. This means that, while StealthGas is currently unprofitable, it may have only just benefited from the recent industry expansion, moving earnings into a more favorable position.

What does this mean?

Though StealthGas’s past data is helpful, it is only one aspect of my investment thesis. Companies that incur net loss is always difficult to envisage what will happen in the future and when. The most useful step is to assess company-specific issues StealthGas may be facing and whether management guidance has regularly been met in the past. I recommend you continue to research StealthGas to get a more holistic view of the stock by looking at:

• 1. Financial Health: Is GASS’s operations financially sustainable? Balance sheets can be hard to analyze, which is why we’ve done it for you. Check out our financial health checks here.

• 2. Other High-Performing Stocks: Are there other stocks that provide better prospects with proven track records? Explore our free list of these great stocks here.

NB: Figures in this article are calculated using data from the trailing twelve months from 31 December 2017. This may not be consistent with full year annual report figures.
To help readers see pass the short term volatility of the financial market, we aim to bring you a long-term focused research analysis purely driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis does not factor in the latest price sensitive company announcements.

The author is an independent contributor and at the time of publication had no position in the stocks mentioned.