Luoyang Glass Company Limited's (HKG:1108) recent weak earnings report didn't cause a big stock movement. We think that investors are worried about some weaknesses underlying the earnings.

See our latest analysis for Luoyang Glass

Zooming In On Luoyang Glass' Earnings

Many investors haven't heard of the accrual ratio from cashflow, but it is actually a useful measure of how well a company's profit is backed up by free cash flow (FCF) during a given period. The accrual ratio subtracts the FCF from the profit for a given period, and divides the result by the average operating assets of the company over that time. You could think of the accrual ratio from cashflow as the 'non-FCF profit ratio'.

As a result, a negative accrual ratio is a positive for the company, and a positive accrual ratio is a negative. That is not intended to imply we should worry about a positive accrual ratio, but it's worth noting where the accrual ratio is rather high. Notably, there is some academic evidence that suggests that a high accrual ratio is a bad sign for near-term profits, generally speaking.

Luoyang Glass has an accrual ratio of 0.42 for the year to June 2022. Statistically speaking, that's a real negative for future earnings. And indeed, during the period the company didn't produce any free cash flow whatsoever. Over the last year it actually had negative free cash flow of CN¥1.8b, in contrast to the aforementioned profit of CN¥305.6m. We saw that FCF was CN¥73m a year ago though, so Luoyang Glass has at least been able to generate positive FCF in the past.

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 Luoyang Glass' Profit Performance

As we have made quite clear, we're a bit worried that Luoyang Glass didn't back up the last year's profit with free cashflow. For this reason, we think that Luoyang Glass' statutory profits may be a bad guide to its underlying earnings power, and might give investors an overly positive impression of the company. 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. So while earnings quality is important, it's equally important to consider the risks facing Luoyang Glass at this point in time. When we did our research, we found 3 warning signs for Luoyang Glass (1 makes us a bit uncomfortable!) that we believe deserve your full attention.

Today we've zoomed in on a single data point to better understand the nature of Luoyang Glass' profit. But there are plenty of other ways to inform your opinion of a company. Some people consider a high return on equity to be a good sign of a quality business. 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.