$Clearfield (CLFD.US)$Revenue has grown rapidly over the pas...

Revenue continued to grow rapidly by 68% in 2023Q1. Operating profit and net profit increased 37% due to excessive cost growth.

Over the past five years, gross margin has fluctuated from 40% to 41.7%. There was only interest income in the first 4 years, but interest expenses in the fifth year were still very few.

The balance sheet has risen from 7.2% to 35.6% over the past five years. There has been little change in book cash. In 2023Q1, it soared to 150 million dollars, mainly due to additional share capital. Accounts receivable and inventory grew rapidly. In 2022, receivables increased by 34.27 million, and inventory increased by 54.68 million. The volume reached 20% and 30% of revenue, respectively. The inventory ratio exceeded normal values, while the net profit in 2022 was only 49.36 million, and all profits went into inventory. There was little increase in accounts receivable and inventory in 2023Q1, which may have stabilized.

In 2022, new short-term loans of 4.39 million and long-term loans of 18.66 million were added, which should be used to make up for the use of capital by newly added inventory. Currently, compared to 150 million net assets, the leverage ratio is not high. Short-term loans declined slightly in 2023Q1, and long-term loans fell sharply to 2.13 million, indicating a significant improvement in the cash situation.

Over the past five years, net cash flow from operations has been lower than net investment, and no shareholder surplus has been generated.

Currently, the price-earnings ratio is 17.3, and the price-earnings ratio TTM has dropped to 16.2. Compared with the profit growth rate, the analysis process also showed that the company's ability to generate cash is very poor. In the near future, it will also rely on issuing new shares to solve the cash flow problem, so you can choose carefully (⭐️)