EBIT(DA) and R&D expenses

First let's answer - what is 'EBIT(DA)'?

Earnings (aka 'net income')

Before

Interest [paid to debtholders on outstanding debt]

Taxes [typically income / 'direct' taxes only, ie: the company wouldn't typically remove VAT or similar taxes]

= EBIT

Then also remove Depreciation [annual expense taken for a portion of the value of physical assets]

Amortization [annual expense taken for a portion of the value of intangible assets]

=EBITDA

In some cases, research costs may be taken as an expense during the year, so the very first line, Net Income, would already have been reduced by the amount of research costs. In some cases, research costs might be 'capitalized', meaning they are not immediately deducted, instead they are booked as 'Research Assets' [or something like that], and then they are amortized over the anticipated useful life of the project. Whether any given cost is 'capitalized' or 'expensed' will depend on the rules for the accounting system that the company follows [US public companies follow US GAAP; most other public companies follow IFRS, and private companies often have a wide range of choices, not all of which are as stringent at requiring recording to be reasonable].

So it is quite possible that a company could project a very high relative EBITDA or EBIT, if they expect to capitalize much of their research costs. [In such a case, EBITDA would be higher than EBIT, because EBITDA would also get to exclude the partial annual amortization of those research costs]. Does this accounting treatment make the company more profitable? No. Accounting treatment exists only to describe the underlying economics - accounting choices do not affect how the company operates, just how some people might perceive it.

The question you have to ask yourself is: do you believe the company when they explain this to you, and do you feel comfortable enough to take action based on what they are telling you? Ask the company to defend its own position, to the point that you understand it. If you can't understand what they're telling you, it implies perhaps you are in over your head, or perhaps they are pulling out BS explanations from thin air.