Tessenderlo Group's (EBR:TESB) Anemic Earnings Might Be Worse Than You Think

Despite Tessenderlo Group NV's (EBR:TESB) recent earnings report having lackluster headline numbers, the market responded positively. Sometimes, shareholders are willing to ignore soft numbers with the hope that they will improve, but our analysis suggests this is unlikely for Tessenderlo Group.

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The Impact Of Unusual Items On Profit

For anyone who wants to understand Tessenderlo Group's profit beyond the statutory numbers, it's important to note that during the last twelve months statutory profit gained from €2.0m worth of 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. When we crunched the numbers on thousands of publicly listed companies, we found that a boost from unusual items in a given year is often not repeated the next year. And that's as you'd expect, given these boosts are described as 'unusual'. If Tessenderlo Group doesn't see that contribution repeat, then all else being equal we'd expect its profit to drop over the current year.

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.

Our Take On Tessenderlo Group's Profit Performance

Arguably, Tessenderlo Group's statutory earnings have been distorted by unusual items boosting profit. Because of this, we think that it may be that Tessenderlo Group's statutory profits are better than its underlying earnings power. In further bad news, its earnings per share decreased in the last year. At the end of the day, it's essential to consider more than just the factors above, if you want to understand the company properly. With this in mind, we wouldn't consider investing in a stock unless we had a thorough understanding of the risks. While conducting our analysis, we found that Tessenderlo Group has 2 warning signs and it would be unwise to ignore these.

This note has only looked at a single factor that sheds light on the nature of Tessenderlo Group'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 with high insider ownership.

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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.