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Measuring Agfa-Gevaert NV’s (ENXTBR:AGFB) track record of past performance is an insightful exercise for investors. It enables us to reflect on whether the company has met or exceed expectations, which is a powerful signal for future performance. Below, I will assess AGFB’s recent performance announced on 31 December 2017 and compare these figures to its historical trend and industry movements. Check out our latest analysis for Agfa-Gevaert
How Did AGFB’s Recent Performance Stack Up Against Its Past?
I prefer to use the ‘latest twelve-month’ data, which annualizes the most recent half-year data, or in some cases, the latest annual report is already the most recent financial year data. This allows me to examine different companies on a similar basis, using the latest information. For Agfa-Gevaert, its latest trailing-twelve-month earnings is €37.00M, which, against the previous year’s level, has dropped by a non-trivial -47.14%. Since these figures are fairly short-term thinking, I have estimated an annualized five-year value for Agfa-Gevaert’s earnings, which stands at €24.04M This suggests that while earnings growth was negative against last year, in the long run, Agfa-Gevaert’s earnings have been increasing on average.
What’s the driver of this growth? Well, let’s take a look at if it is only due to an industry uplift, or if Agfa-Gevaert has seen some company-specific growth. In the last couple of years, Agfa-Gevaert grew bottom-line, while its top-line declined, by effectively managing its costs. This has caused to a margin expansion and profitability over time. Eyeballing growth from a sector-level, the BE healthcare services industry has been growing its average earnings by double-digit 20.79% over the prior twelve months, and 14.47% over the past half a decade. This shows that any uplift the industry is benefiting from, Agfa-Gevaert has not been able to leverage it as much as its industry peers.
What does this mean?
Agfa-Gevaert’s track record can be a valuable insight into its earnings performance, but it certainly doesn’t tell the whole story. Companies that are profitable, but have capricious earnings, can have many factors influencing its business. I suggest you continue to research Agfa-Gevaert to get a better picture of the stock by looking at:
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Future Outlook: What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for AGFB’s future growth? Take a look at our free research report of analyst consensus for AGFB’s outlook.
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Financial Health: Is AGFB’s operations financially sustainable? Balance sheets can be hard to analyze, which is why we’ve done it for you. Check out our financial health checks here.
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Other High-Performing Stocks: Are there other stocks that provide better prospects with proven track records? Explore our free list of these great stocks here.
NB: Figures in this article are calculated using data from the trailing twelve months from 31 December 2017. This may not be consistent with full year annual report figures.
To help readers see pass the short term volatility of the financial market, we aim to bring you a long-term focused research analysis purely driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis does not factor in the latest price sensitive company announcements.
The author is an independent contributor and at the time of publication had no position in the stocks mentioned.