Artea (EPA:ARTE) Is Growing Earnings But Are They A Good Guide?

It might be old fashioned, but we really like to invest in companies that make a profit, each and every year. However, sometimes companies receive a one-off boost (or reduction) to their profit, and it's not always clear whether statutory profits are a good guide, going forward. This article will consider whether Artea's (EPA:ARTE) statutory profits are a good guide to its underlying earnings.

It's good to see that over the last twelve months Artea made a profit of €9.66m on revenue of €22.8m. Happily, it has grown both its profit and revenue over the last three years (though we note its revenue is down over the last year).

See our latest analysis for Artea

Of course, when it comes to statutory profit, the devil is often in the detail, and we can get a better sense for a company by diving deeper into the financial statements. This article will discuss how unusual items have impacted Artea's most recent profit results. Note: we always recommend investors check balance sheet strength. Click here to be taken to our balance sheet analysis of Artea.

The Impact Of Unusual Items On Profit

Importantly, our data indicates that Artea's profit received a boost of €16m in unusual items, over the last year. 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. And, after all, that's exactly what the accounting terminology implies. We can see that Artea's positive unusual items were quite significant relative to its profit in the year to June 2020. All else being equal, this would likely have the effect of making the statutory profit a poor guide to underlying earnings power.

Our Take On Artea's Profit Performance

As we discussed above, we think the significant positive unusual item makes Artea'searnings a poor guide to its underlying profitability. For this reason, we think that Artea's statutory profits may be a bad guide to its underlying earnings power, and might give investors an overly positive impression of the company. But the good news is that its EPS growth over the last three years has been very impressive. Of course, we've only just scratched the surface when it comes to analysing its earnings; one could also consider margins, forecast growth, and return on investment, among other factors. If you'd like to know more about Artea as a business, it's important to be aware of any risks it's facing. For example, Artea has 3 warning signs (and 1 which is concerning) we think you should know about.

This note has only looked at a single factor that sheds light on the nature of Artea's profit. But there are plenty of other ways to inform your opinion of a company. Some people consider a high return on equity to be a good sign of a quality business. 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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