Investors are often guided by the idea of discovering 'the next big thing', even if that means buying 'story stocks' without any revenue, let alone profit. But as Peter Lynch said in One Up On Wall Street, 'Long shots almost never pay off.' A loss-making company is yet to prove itself with profit, and eventually the inflow of external capital may dry up.

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 Baltic Classifieds Group (LON:BCG). 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 Baltic Classifieds Group

How Fast Is Baltic Classifieds Group Growing Its Earnings Per Share?

Even modest earnings per share growth (EPS) can create meaningful value, when it is sustained reliably from year to year. So it's easy to see why many investors focus in on EPS growth. To the delight of shareholders, Baltic Classifieds Group's EPS soared from €0.041 to €0.055, over the last year. That's a fantastic gain of 36%.

One way to double-check a company's growth is to look at how its revenue, and earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) margins are changing. The good news is that Baltic Classifieds Group is growing revenues, and EBIT margins improved by 7.5 percentage points to 51%, over the last year. Both of which are great metrics to check off for potential growth.

The chart below shows how the company's bottom and top lines have progressed over time. Click on the chart to see the exact numbers.

In investing, as in life, the future matters more than the past. So why not check out this free interactive visualization of Baltic Classifieds Group's forecast profits?

Are Baltic Classifieds Group Insiders Aligned With All Shareholders?

It should give investors a sense of security owning shares in a company if insiders also own shares, creating a close alignment their interests. Baltic Classifieds Group followers will find comfort in knowing that insiders have a significant amount of capital that aligns their best interests with the wider shareholder group. With a whopping €70m worth of shares as a group, insiders have plenty riding on the company's success. That's certainly enough to let shareholders know that management will be very focussed on long term growth.

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. For companies with market capitalisations between €914m and €2.9b, like Baltic Classifieds Group, the median CEO pay is around €1.9m.