Aussie broadband’s profits appear to have quality issues

Aussie Broadband Limited just released a solid earnings report, and the stock displayed some strength. While the profit numbers were good, our analysis has found some concerning factors that shareholders should be aware of.

One essential aspect of assessing earnings quality is to look at how much a company is diluting shareholders. In fact, Aussie Broadband increased the number of shares on issue by 24% over the last twelve months by issuing new shares. That means its earnings are split among a greater number of shares. Per share metrics like EPS help us understand how much actual shareholders are benefitting from the company’s profits, while the net income level gives us a better view of the company’s absolute size. Check out Aussie Broadband’s historical EPS growth by clicking on this link.

How Is Dilution Impacting Aussie Broadband’s Earnings Per Share (EPS)?
Three years ago, Aussie Broadband lost money. On the bright side, in the last twelve months it grew profit by 21%. But EPS was less impressive, up only 6.6% in that time. Therefore, one can observe that the dilution is having a fairly profound effect on shareholder returns.

In the long term, earnings per share growth should beget share price growth. So Aussie Broadband shareholders will want to see that EPS figure continue to increase. But on the other hand, we’d be far less excited to learn profit (but not EPS) was improving. For the ordinary retail shareholder, EPS is a great measure to check your hypothetical “share” of the company’s profit.

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.

The Impact Of Unusual Items On Profit
Alongside that dilution, it’s also important to note that Aussie Broadband’s profit suffered from unusual items, which reduced profit by AU$11m in the last twelve months. It’s never great to see unusual items costing the company profits, but on the upside, things might improve sooner rather than later. When we analysed the vast majority of listed companies worldwide, we found that significant unusual items are often not repeated. And that’s hardly a surprise given these line items are considered unusual. If Aussie Broadband doesn’t see those unusual expenses repeat, then all else being equal we’d expect its profit to increase over the coming year.

Our Take On Aussie Broadband’s Profit Performance
To sum it all up, Aussie Broadband took a hit from unusual items which pushed its profit down; without that, it would have made more money. But on the other hand, the company issued more shares, so without buying more shares each shareholder will end up with a smaller part of the profit. Having considered these factors, we don’t think Aussie Broadband’s statutory profits give an overly harsh view of the business. Keep in mind, when it comes to analysing a stock it’s worth noting the risks involved. Every company has risks, and we’ve spotted 2 warning signs for Aussie Broadband you should know about.

Our examination of Aussie Broadband has focussed on certain factors that can make its earnings look better than they are. But there are plenty of other ways to inform your opinion of a company. For example, many people consider a high return on equity as an indication of favorable business economics, while others like to ‘follow the money’ and search out stocks that insiders are buying. So you may wish to see this free collection of companies boasting high return on equity, or this list of stocks with high insider ownership. Finance Yahoo