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The excitement of investing in a company that can reverse its fortunes is a big draw for some speculators, so even companies that have no revenue, no profit, and a record of falling short, can manage to find investors. Unfortunately, these high risk investments often have little probability of ever paying off, and many investors pay a price to learn their lesson. Loss-making companies are always racing against time to reach financial sustainability, so investors in these companies may be taking on more risk than they should.
Despite being in the age of tech-stock blue-sky investing, many investors still adopt a more traditional strategy; buying shares in profitable companies like Monolithic Power Systems (NASDAQ:MPWR). Now this is not to say that the company presents the best investment opportunity around, but profitability is a key component to success in business.
Monolithic Power Systems' Improving Profits
Strong earnings per share (EPS) results are an indicator of a company achieving solid profits, which investors look upon favourably and so the share price tends to reflect great EPS performance. So a growing EPS generally brings attention to a company in the eyes of prospective investors. It's an outstanding feat for Monolithic Power Systems to have grown EPS from US$8.98 to US$37.33 in just one year. Even though that growth rate may not be repeated, that looks like a breakout improvement. Could this be a sign that the business has reached an inflection point?
Top-line growth is a great indicator that growth is sustainable, and combined with a high earnings before interest and taxation (EBIT) margin, it's a great way for a company to maintain a competitive advantage in the market. On the revenue front, Monolithic Power Systems has done well over the past year, growing revenue by 21% to US$2.2b but EBIT margin figures were less stellar, seeing a decline over the last 12 months. So if EBIT margins can stabilize, this top-line growth should pay off for shareholders.
You can take a look at the company's revenue and earnings growth trend, in the chart below. Click on the chart to see the exact numbers.
See our latest analysis for Monolithic Power Systems
Of course the knack is to find stocks that have their best days in the future, not in the past. You could base your opinion on past performance, of course, but you may also want to check this interactive graph of professional analyst EPS forecasts for Monolithic Power Systems.