We Think Shareholders Should Be Aware Of Some Factors Beyond Suzlon Energy's (NSE:SUZLONPP) Profit (2024)

Even though Suzlon Energy Limited (NSE:SUZLONPP) posted strong earnings recently, the stock hasn't reacted in a large way. We decided to have a deeper look, and we believe that investors might be worried about several concerning factors that we found.

Our analysis indicates that SUZLONPP is potentially undervalued!

Zooming In On Suzlon Energy's 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. The ratio shows us how much a company's profit exceeds its FCF.

Therefore, it's actually considered a good thing when a company has a negative accrual ratio, but a bad thing if its accrual ratio is positive. 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. That's because some academic studies have suggested that high accruals ratios tend to lead to lower profit or less profit growth.

Suzlon Energy has an accrual ratio of 0.54 for the year to September 2022. Ergo, its free cash flow is significantly weaker than its profit. As a general rule, that bodes poorly for future profitability. Indeed, in the last twelve months it reported free cash flow of ₹8.2b, which is significantly less than its profit of ₹23.2b. Suzlon Energy shareholders will no doubt be hoping that its free cash flow bounces back next year, since it was down over the last twelve months. Having said that, there is more to consider. We can look at how unusual items in the profit and loss statement impacted its accrual ratio, as well as explore how dilution is impacting shareholders negatively. One positive for Suzlon Energy shareholders is that it's accrual ratio was significantly better last year, providing reason to believe that it may return to stronger cash conversion in the future. As a result, some shareholders may be looking for stronger cash conversion in the current year.

Note: we always recommend investors check balance sheet strength. Click here to be taken to our balance sheet analysis of Suzlon Energy.

One essential aspect of assessing earnings quality is to look at how much a company is diluting shareholders. Suzlon Energy expanded the number of shares on issue by 40% over the last year. Therefore, each share now receives a smaller portion of profit. Per share metrics like EPS help us understand how much actual shareholders are benefitting from the company's profits, while the net income level gives us a better view of the company's absolute size. Check out Suzlon Energy's historical EPS growth by clicking on this link.

A Look At The Impact Of Suzlon Energy's Dilution On Its Earnings Per Share (EPS)

Suzlon Energy was losing money three years ago. And even focusing only on the last twelve months, we don't have a meaningful growth rate because it made a loss a year ago, too. What we do know is that while it's great to see a profit over the last twelve months, that profit would have been better, on a per share basis, if the company hadn't needed to issue shares. Therefore, one can observe that the dilution is having a fairly profound effect on shareholder returns.

In the long term, if Suzlon Energy's earnings per share can increase, then the share price should too. But on the other hand, we'd be far less excited to learn profit (but not EPS) was improving. For the ordinary retail shareholder, EPS is a great measure to check your hypothetical "share" of the company's profit.

The Impact Of Unusual Items On Profit

Given the accrual ratio, it's not overly surprising that Suzlon Energy's profit was boosted by unusual items worth ₹24b in the last twelve months. While it's always nice to have higher profit, a large contribution from unusual items sometimes dampens our enthusiasm. We ran the numbers on most publicly listed companies worldwide, and it's very common for unusual items to be once-off in nature. And, after all, that's exactly what the accounting terminology implies. We can see that Suzlon Energy's positive unusual items were quite significant relative to its profit in the year to September 2022. All else being equal, this would likely have the effect of making the statutory profit a poor guide to underlying earnings power.

Our Take On Suzlon Energy's Profit Performance

In conclusion, Suzlon Energy's weak accrual ratio suggested its statutory earnings have been inflated by the unusual items. Meanwhile, the new shares issued mean that shareholders now own less of the company, unless they tipped in more cash themselves. On reflection, the above-mentioned factors give us the strong impression that Suzlon Energy'sunderlying earnings power is not as good as it might seem, based on the statutory profit numbers. If you'd like to know more about Suzlon Energy as a business, it's important to be aware of any risks it's facing. Case in point: We've spotted 5 warning signs for Suzlon Energy you should be mindful of and 4 of these bad boys don't sit too well with us.

Our examination of Suzlon Energy has focussed on certain factors that can make its earnings look better than they are. And, on that basis, we are somewhat skeptical. But there are plenty of other ways to inform your opinion of a company. 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.