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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. A loss-making company is yet to prove itself with profit, and eventually the inflow of external capital may dry up.
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 Nichols (LON:NICL). While profit isn't the sole metric that should be considered when investing, it's worth recognising businesses that can consistently produce it.
Check out our latest analysis for Nichols
Nichols' 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) outcomes. So it makes sense that experienced investors pay close attention to company EPS when undertaking investment research. Impressively, Nichols has grown EPS by 23% per year, compound, in the last three years. As a general rule, we'd say that if a company can keep up that sort of growth, shareholders will be beaming.
One way to double-check a company's growth is to look at how its revenue, and earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) margins are changing. It was a year of stability for Nichols as both revenue and EBIT margins remained have been flat over the past year. While this doesn't ring alarm bells, it may not meet the expectations of growth-minded investors.
The chart below shows how the company's bottom and top lines have progressed over time. For finer detail, click on the image.
You don't drive with your eyes on the rear-view mirror, so you might be more interested in this free report showing analyst forecasts for Nichols' future profits.
Are Nichols Insiders Aligned With All Shareholders?
It's pleasing to see company leaders with putting their money on the line, so to speak, because it increases alignment of incentives between the people running the business, and its true owners. Nichols followers will find comfort in knowing that insiders have a significant amount of capital that aligns their best interests with the wider shareholder group. Notably, they have an enviable stake in the company, worth UK£107m. That equates to 27% of the company, making insiders powerful and aligned with other shareholders. So there is opportunity here to invest in a company whose management have tangible incentives to deliver.