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. 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.

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 TC Energy (TSE:TRP). While profit isn’t the sole metric that should be considered when investing, it’s worth recognising businesses that can consistently produce it.

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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 means EPS growth is considered a real positive by most successful long-term investors. Shareholders will be happy to know that TC Energy’s EPS has grown 29% each year, compound, over three years. If the company can sustain that sort of growth, we’d expect shareholders to come away satisfied.

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, TC Energy’s EBIT margins fell over the last year, but on the other hand, revenue grew. So it seems the future may hold further growth, especially if EBIT margins can remain steady.

You can take a look at the company’s revenue and earnings growth trend, in the chart below. To see the actual numbers, click on the chart.

View our latest analysis for TC Energy

Fortunately, we’ve got access to analyst forecasts of TC Energy’s future profits. You can do your own forecasts without looking, or you can take a peek at what the professionals are predicting.

Insider interest in a company always sparks a bit of intrigue and many investors are on the lookout for companies where insiders are putting their money where their mouth is. This view is based on the possibility that stock purchases signal bullishness on behalf of the buyer. However, insiders are sometimes wrong, and we don’t know the exact thinking behind their acquisitions.