It's common for many investors, especially those who are inexperienced, to buy shares in companies with a good story even if these companies are loss-making. But the reality is that when a company loses money each year, for long enough, its investors will usually take their share of those losses. 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.

So if this idea of high risk and high reward doesn't suit, you might be more interested in profitable, growing companies, like Airbnb (NASDAQ:ABNB). While profit isn't the sole metric that should be considered when investing, it's worth recognising businesses that can consistently produce it.

See our latest analysis for Airbnb

How Fast Is Airbnb Growing Its Earnings Per Share?

In the last three years Airbnb's earnings per share took off; so much so that it's a bit disingenuous to use these figures to try and deduce long term estimates. So it would be better to isolate the growth rate over the last year for our analysis. In impressive fashion, Airbnb's EPS grew from US$3.62 to US$7.66, over the previous 12 months. It's a rarity to see 112% year-on-year growth like that.

It's often helpful to take a look at earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) margins, as well as revenue growth, to get another take on the quality of the company's growth. On the one hand, Airbnb's EBIT margins fell over the last year, but on the other hand, revenue grew. So if EBIT margins can stabilize, this top-line growth should pay off for shareholders.

The chart below shows how the company's bottom and top lines have progressed over time. For finer detail, click on the image.

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 Airbnb.

Are Airbnb Insiders Aligned With All Shareholders?

Since Airbnb has a market capitalisation of US$89b, we wouldn't expect insiders to hold a large percentage of shares. But we do take comfort from the fact that they are investors in the company. We note that their impressive stake in the company is worth US$25b. Coming in at 28% of the business, that holding gives insiders a lot of influence, and plenty of reason to generate value for shareholders. Very encouraging.

It's good to see that insiders are invested in the company, but are remuneration levels reasonable? Well, based on the CEO pay, you'd argue that they are indeed. The median total compensation for CEOs of companies similar in size to Airbnb, with market caps over US$8.0b, is around US$13m.