The market seemed underwhelmed by last week's earnings announcement from Justin Allen Holdings Limited (HKG:1425) despite the healthy numbers. We did some digging, and we think that investors are missing some encouraging factors in the underlying numbers.

A Closer Look At Justin Allen Holdings' Earnings

As finance nerds would already know, the accrual ratio from cashflow is a key measure for assessing how well a company's free cash flow (FCF) matches its profit. To get the accrual ratio we first subtract FCF from profit for a period, and then divide that number by the average operating assets for the period. This ratio tells us how much of a company's profit is not backed by free cashflow.

As a result, a negative accrual ratio is a positive for the company, and a positive accrual ratio is a negative. While having an accrual ratio above zero is of little concern, we do think it's worth noting when a company has a relatively high accrual ratio. To quote a 2014 paper by Lewellen and Resutek, "firms with higher accruals tend to be less profitable in the future".

Justin Allen Holdings has an accrual ratio of -0.28 for the year to June 2024. Therefore, its statutory earnings were very significantly less than its free cashflow. In fact, it had free cash flow of HK$267m in the last year, which was a lot more than its statutory profit of HK$178.1m. Justin Allen Holdings' free cash flow improved over the last year, which is generally good to see.

Note: we always recommend investors check balance sheet strength. Click here to be taken to our balance sheet analysis of Justin Allen Holdings.

Our Take On Justin Allen Holdings' Profit Performance

Happily for shareholders, Justin Allen Holdings produced plenty of free cash flow to back up its statutory profit numbers. Because of this, we think Justin Allen Holdings' underlying earnings potential is as good as, or possibly even better, than the statutory profit makes it seem! And the EPS is up 66% annually, over the last three years. Of course, we've only just scratched the surface when it comes to analysing its earnings; one could also consider margins, forecast growth, and return on investment, among other factors. In light of this, if you'd like to do more analysis on the company, it's vital to be informed of the risks involved. While conducting our analysis, we found that Justin Allen Holdings has 2 warning signs and it would be unwise to ignore them.

Today we've zoomed in on a single data point to better understand the nature of Justin Allen Holdings' profit. But there is always more to discover if you are capable of focussing your mind on minutiae. 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.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.