Stock Analysis

Here's Why We Don't Think Dubai Investments PJSC's (DFM:DIC) Statutory Earnings Reflect Its Underlying Earnings Potential

DFM:DIC
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Broadly speaking, profitable businesses are less risky than unprofitable ones. Having said that, sometimes statutory profit levels are not a good guide to ongoing profitability, because some short term one-off factor has impacted profit levels. In this article, we'll look at how useful this year's statutory profit is, when analysing Dubai Investments PJSC (DFM:DIC).

While Dubai Investments PJSC was able to generate revenue of د.إ2.52b in the last twelve months, we think its profit result of د.إ616.8m was more important. The chart below shows how it has grown revenue over the last three years, but that profit has declined.

See our latest analysis for Dubai Investments PJSC

earnings-and-revenue-history
DFM:DIC Earnings and Revenue History November 30th 2020

Of course, it is only sensible to look beyond the statutory profits and question how well those numbers represent the sustainable earnings power of the business. This article will discuss how unusual items have impacted Dubai Investments PJSC's most recent profit results. That might leave you wondering what analysts are forecasting in terms of future profitability. Luckily, you can click here to see an interactive graph depicting future profitability, based on their estimates.

How Do Unusual Items Influence Profit?

To properly understand Dubai Investments PJSC's profit results, we need to consider the د.إ110m gain attributed to unusual items. While we like to see profit increases, we tend to be a little more cautious when unusual items have made a big contribution. We ran the numbers on most publicly listed companies worldwide, and it's very common for unusual items to be once-off in nature. Which is hardly surprising, given the name. Assuming those unusual items don't show up again in the current year, we'd thus expect profit to be weaker next year (in the absence of business growth, that is).

Our Take On Dubai Investments PJSC's Profit Performance

We'd posit that Dubai Investments PJSC's statutory earnings aren't a clean read on ongoing productivity, due to the large unusual item. Because of this, we think that it may be that Dubai Investments PJSC's statutory profits are better than its underlying earnings power. But at least holders can take some solace from the 59% EPS growth in the last year. The goal of this article has been to assess how well we can rely on the statutory earnings to reflect the company's potential, but there is plenty more to consider. In light of this, if you'd like to do more analysis on the company, it's vital to be informed of the risks involved. When we did our research, we found 2 warning signs for Dubai Investments PJSC (1 doesn't sit too well with us!) that we believe deserve your full attention.

Today we've zoomed in on a single data point to better understand the nature of Dubai Investments PJSC's profit. But there is always more to discover if you are capable of focussing your mind on minutiae. For example, many people consider a high return on equity as an indication of favorable business economics, while others like to 'follow the money' and search out stocks that insiders are buying. So you may wish to see this free collection of companies boasting high return on equity, or this list of stocks that insiders are buying.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. 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.
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