Investors are often guided by the idea of discovering 'the next big thing', even if that means buying 'story stocks' without any revenue, let alone profit. Sometimes these stories can cloud the minds of investors, leading them to invest with their emotions rather than on the merit of good company fundamentals. 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.

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 Bunzl (LON:BNZL). Even if this company is fairly valued by the market, investors would agree that generating consistent profits will continue to provide Bunzl with the means to add long-term value to shareholders.

View our latest analysis for Bunzl

Bunzl's Earnings Per Share Are Growing

Generally, companies experiencing growth in earnings per share (EPS) should see similar trends in share price. That makes EPS growth an attractive quality for any company. Over the last three years, Bunzl has grown EPS by 10% per year. That's a good rate of growth, if it can be sustained.

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. EBIT margins for Bunzl remained fairly unchanged over the last year, however the company should be pleased to report its revenue growth for the period of 17% to UK£12b. That's progress.

The chart below shows how the company's bottom and top lines have progressed over time. For finer detail, click on the image.

The trick, as an investor, is to find companies that are going to perform well in the future, not just in the past. While crystal balls don't exist, you can check our visualization of consensus analyst forecasts for Bunzl's future EPS 100% free.

Are Bunzl Insiders Aligned With All Shareholders?

As a general rule, it's worth considering how much the CEO is paid, since unreasonably high rates could be considered against the interests of shareholders. The median total compensation for CEOs of companies similar in size to Bunzl, with market caps over UK£6.6b, is around UK£4.7m.

Bunzl offered total compensation worth UK£4.1m to its CEO in the year to December 2021. That seems pretty reasonable, especially given it's below the median for similar sized companies. 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.