AVIC Shenyang Aircraft Company Limited's (SHSE:600760) robust earnings report didn't manage to move the market for its stock. We did some digging, and we found some concerning factors in the details.

View our latest analysis for AVIC Shenyang Aircraft

A Closer Look At AVIC Shenyang Aircraft's 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. In plain english, this ratio subtracts FCF from net profit, and divides that number by the company's average operating assets over that 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 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. That's because some academic studies have suggested that high accruals ratios tend to lead to lower profit or less profit growth.

For the year to September 2023, AVIC Shenyang Aircraft had an accrual ratio of 0.25. We can therefore deduce that its free cash flow fell well short of covering its statutory profit. To wit, it produced free cash flow of CN¥1.4b during the period, falling well short of its reported profit of CN¥2.93b. Given that AVIC Shenyang Aircraft had negative free cash flow in the prior corresponding period, the trailing twelve month resul of CN¥1.4b would seem to be a step in the right direction.

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 AVIC Shenyang Aircraft's Profit Performance

AVIC Shenyang Aircraft's accrual ratio for the last twelve months signifies cash conversion is less than ideal, which is a negative when it comes to our view of its earnings. Because of this, we think that it may be that AVIC Shenyang Aircraft's statutory profits are better than its underlying earnings power. But the good news is that its EPS growth over the last three years has been very impressive. The goal of this article has been to assess how well we can rely on the statutory earnings to reflect the company's potential, but there is plenty more to consider. With this in mind, we wouldn't consider investing in a stock unless we had a thorough understanding of the risks. When we did our research, we found 2 warning signs for AVIC Shenyang Aircraft (1 is significant!) that we believe deserve your full attention.

Today we've zoomed in on a single data point to better understand the nature of AVIC Shenyang Aircraft's 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. While it might take a little research on your behalf, you may find this free collection of companies boasting high return on equity, or this list of stocks that insiders are buying to be useful.

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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.