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.' 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.
In contrast to all that, many investors prefer to focus on companies like Privasia Technology Berhad (KLSE:PRIVA), which has not only revenues, but also profits. While profit isn't the sole metric that should be considered when investing, it's worth recognising businesses that can consistently produce it.
The market is a voting machine in the short term, but a weighing machine in the long term, so you'd expect share price to follow earnings per share (EPS) outcomes eventually. That makes EPS growth an attractive quality for any company. We can see that in the last three years Privasia Technology Berhad grew its EPS by 13% per year. That's a pretty good rate, if the company can sustain it.
Top-line growth is a great indicator that growth is sustainable, and combined with a high earnings before interest and taxation (EBIT) margin, it's a great way for a company to maintain a competitive advantage in the market. Privasia Technology Berhad shareholders can take confidence from the fact that EBIT margins are up from -0.05% to 4.5%, and revenue is growing. That's great to see, on both counts.
You can take a look at the company's revenue and earnings growth trend, in the chart below. For finer detail, click on the image.
View our latest analysis for Privasia Technology Berhad
Privasia Technology Berhad isn't a huge company, given its market capitalisation of RM54m. That makes it extra important to check on its balance sheet strength.
Many consider high insider ownership to be a strong sign of alignment between the leaders of a company and the ordinary shareholders. So as you can imagine, the fact that Privasia Technology Berhad insiders own a significant number of shares certainly is appealing. Owning 41% of the company, insiders have plenty riding on the performance of the the share price. Those who are comforted by solid insider ownership like this should be happy, as it implies that those running the business are genuinely motivated to create shareholder value. Valued at only RM54m Privasia Technology Berhad is really small for a listed company. That means insiders only have RM22m worth of shares, despite the large proportional holding. That might not be a huge sum but it should be enough to keep insiders motivated!
It's good to see that insiders are invested in the company, but are remuneration levels reasonable? Our quick analysis into CEO remuneration would seem to indicate they are. For companies with market capitalisations under RM818m, like Privasia Technology Berhad, the median CEO pay is around RM499k.
The Privasia Technology Berhad CEO received total compensation of only RM74k in the year to December 2025. This total may indicate that the CEO is sacrificing take home pay for performance-based benefits, ensuring that their motivations are synonymous with strong company results. CEO remuneration levels are not the most important metric for investors, but when the pay is modest, that does support enhanced alignment between the CEO and the ordinary shareholders. It can also be a sign of good governance, more generally.
As previously touched on, Privasia Technology Berhad is a growing business, which is encouraging. The fact that EPS is growing is a genuine positive for Privasia Technology Berhad, but the pleasant picture gets better than that. Boasting both modest CEO pay and considerable insider ownership, you'd argue this one is worthy of the watchlist, at least. Even so, be aware that Privasia Technology Berhad is showing 2 warning signs in our investment analysis , and 1 of those can't be ignored...
There's always the possibility of doing well buying stocks that are not growing earnings and do not have insiders buying shares. But for those who consider these important metrics, we encourage you to check out companies that do have those features. You can access a tailored list of Malaysian companies which have demonstrated growth backed by significant insider holdings.
Please note the insider transactions discussed in this article refer to reportable transactions in the relevant jurisdiction.
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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.