In This Article:
The most recent earnings report from Boyd Group Services Inc. (TSE:BYD) was disappointing for shareholders. However, our analysis suggests that the soft headline numbers are getting counterbalanced by some positive underlying factors.
Zooming In On Boyd Group Services' Earnings
One key financial ratio used to measure how well a company converts its profit to free cash flow (FCF) is the accrual ratio. The accrual ratio subtracts the FCF from the profit for a given period, and divides the result by the average operating assets of the company over that time. The ratio shows us how much a company's profit exceeds its FCF.
As a result, a negative accrual ratio is a positive for the company, and a positive accrual ratio is a negative. While it's not a problem to have a positive accrual ratio, indicating a certain level of non-cash profits, a high accrual ratio is arguably a bad thing, because it indicates paper profits are not matched by cash flow. To quote a 2014 paper by Lewellen and Resutek, "firms with higher accruals tend to be less profitable in the future".
Boyd Group Services has an accrual ratio of -0.16 for the year to December 2024. Therefore, its statutory earnings were very significantly less than its free cashflow. In fact, it had free cash flow of US$233m in the last year, which was a lot more than its statutory profit of US$24.5m. Boyd Group Services did see its free cash flow drop year on year, which is less than ideal, like a Simpson's episode without Groundskeeper Willie.
That might leave you wondering what analysts are forecasting in terms of future profitability. Luckily, you can click here to see an interactive graph depicting future profitability, based on their estimates.
Our Take On Boyd Group Services' Profit Performance
As we discussed above, Boyd Group Services' accrual ratio indicates strong conversion of profit to free cash flow, which is a positive for the company. Because of this, we think Boyd Group Services' underlying earnings potential is as good as, or possibly even better, than the statutory profit makes it seem! And it's also good to see that its earnings per share have improved a bit over the last three years. At the end of the day, it's essential to consider more than just the factors above, if you want to understand the company properly. If you want to do dive deeper into Boyd Group Services, you'd also look into what risks it is currently facing. To that end, you should learn about the 3 warning signs we've spotted with Boyd Group Services (including 1 which is concerning).