For beginners, it can seem like a good idea (and an exciting prospect) to buy a company that tells a good story to investors, even if it currently lacks a track record of revenue and profit. Unfortunately, these high risk investments often have little probability of ever paying off, and many investors pay a price to learn their lesson. A loss-making company is yet to prove itself with profit, and eventually the inflow of external capital may dry up.

In contrast to all that, many investors prefer to focus on companies like ATOSS Software (ETR:AOF), which has not only revenues, but also profits. Even if this company is fairly valued by the market, investors would agree that generating consistent profits will continue to provide ATOSS Software with the means to add long-term value to shareholders.

View our latest analysis for ATOSS Software

How Fast Is ATOSS Software Growing?

Generally, companies experiencing growth in earnings per share (EPS) should see similar trends in share price. That makes EPS growth an attractive quality for any company. It certainly is nice to see that ATOSS Software has managed to grow EPS by 32% per year over three years. This has no doubt fuelled the optimism that sees the stock trading on a high multiple of earnings.

Careful consideration of revenue growth and earnings before interest and taxation (EBIT) margins can help inform a view on the sustainability of the recent profit growth. The good news is that ATOSS Software is growing revenues, and EBIT margins improved by 4.5 percentage points to 35%, over the last year. Ticking those two boxes is a good sign of growth, in our book.

In the chart below, you can see how the company has grown earnings and revenue, over time. To see the actual numbers, click on the chart.

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 ATOSS Software.

Are ATOSS Software 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. Shareholders will be pleased by the fact that insiders own ATOSS Software shares worth a considerable sum. We note that their impressive stake in the company is worth €466m. That equates to 22% of the company, making insiders powerful and aligned with other shareholders. So there is opportunity here to invest in a company whose management have tangible incentives to deliver.