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. Sometimes these stories can cloud the minds of investors, leading them to invest with their emotions rather than on the merit of good company fundamentals. While a well funded company may sustain losses for years, it will need to generate a profit eventually, or else investors will move on and the company will wither away.

In contrast to all that, many investors prefer to focus on companies like MillerKnoll (NASDAQ:MLKN), which has not only revenues, but also profits. Now this is not to say that the company presents the best investment opportunity around, but profitability is a key component to success in business.

See our latest analysis for MillerKnoll

MillerKnoll's Earnings Per Share Are Growing

If you believe that markets are even vaguely efficient, then over the long term you'd expect a company's share price to follow its earnings per share (EPS) outcomes. So it makes sense that experienced investors pay close attention to company EPS when undertaking investment research. MillerKnoll managed to grow EPS by 14% per year, over three years. That's a pretty good rate, if the company can sustain it.

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. Despite consistency in EBIT margins year on year, MillerKnoll has actually recorded a dip in revenue. Suffice it to say that is not a great sign of growth.

The chart below shows how the company's bottom and top lines have progressed 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 MillerKnoll.

Are MillerKnoll Insiders Aligned With All Shareholders?

It's pleasing to see company leaders with putting their money on the line, so to speak, because it increases alignment of incentives between the people running the business, and its true owners. Shareholders will be pleased by the fact that insiders own MillerKnoll shares worth a considerable sum. To be specific, they have US$21m worth of shares. This considerable investment should help drive long-term value in the business. While their ownership only accounts for 1.2%, this is still a considerable amount at stake to encourage the business to maintain a strategy that will deliver value to shareholders.