When Aeglea Biotherapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:AGLE) announced its most recent earnings (31 December 2017), I compared it against two factor: its historical earnings track record, and the performance of its industry peers on average. Being able to interpret how well Aeglea Biotherapeutics has done so far requires weighing its performance against a benchmark, rather than looking at a standalone number at a point in time. In this article, I’ve summarized the key takeaways on how I see AGLE has performed. See our latest analysis for Aeglea Biotherapeutics

Was AGLE’s weak performance lately a part of a long-term decline?

To account for any quarterly or half-yearly updates, I use data from the most recent 12 months, which either annualizes the most recent 6-month earnings update, or in some cases, the most recent annual report is already the latest available financial data. This blend allows me to analyze different companies in a uniform manner using new information. For Aeglea Biotherapeutics, its latest trailing-twelve-month earnings is -US$27.24M, which, relative to last year’s figure, has become more negative. Given that these figures may be somewhat short-term, I’ve computed an annualized five-year figure for Aeglea Biotherapeutics’s net income, which stands at -US$18.00M. This doesn’t seem to paint a better picture, since earnings seem to have consistently been getting more and more negative over time.

We can further examine Aeglea Biotherapeutics’s loss by looking at what the industry has been experiencing over the past few years. Each year, for the last five years Aeglea Biotherapeutics’s revenue growth has been somewhat muted, with an annual growth rate of 1.78%, on average. The company’s inability to breakeven has been aided by the relatively flat top-line in the past. Eyeballing growth from a sector-level, the US biotechs industry has been growing its average earnings by double-digit 24.94% in the past year, and 20.36% over the past five years. This means that any uplift the industry is profiting from, Aeglea Biotherapeutics has not been able to realize the gains unlike its industry peers.

What does this mean?

While past data is useful, it doesn’t tell the whole story. Companies that incur net loss is always hard to envisage what will occur going forward, and when. The most insightful step is to examine company-specific issues Aeglea Biotherapeutics may be facing and whether management guidance has regularly been met in the past. I recommend you continue to research Aeglea Biotherapeutics to get a more holistic view of the stock by looking at: