We Think That There Are Issues Underlying Shanta Gold's (LON:SHG) Earnings

Despite posting some strong earnings, the market for Shanta Gold Limited's (LON:SHG) stock hasn't moved much. We did some digging, and we found some concerning factors in the details.

View our latest analysis for Shanta Gold

One essential aspect of assessing earnings quality is to look at how much a company is diluting shareholders. As it happens, Shanta Gold issued 32% more new shares over the last year. That means its earnings are split among a greater number of shares. Per share metrics like EPS help us understand how much actual shareholders are benefitting from the company's profits, while the net income level gives us a better view of the company's absolute size. You can see a chart of Shanta Gold's EPS by clicking here.

A Look At The Impact Of Shanta Gold's Dilution on Its Earnings Per Share (EPS).

We don't have any data on the company's profits from three years ago. Zooming in to the last year, we still can't talk about growth rates coherently, since it made a loss last year. What we do know is that while it's great to see a profit over the last twelve months, that profit would have been better, on a per share basis, if the company hadn't needed to issue shares. So you can see that the dilution has had a fairly significant impact on shareholders.

If Shanta Gold's EPS can grow over time then that drastically improves the chances of the share price moving in the same direction. But on the other hand, we'd be far less excited to learn profit (but not EPS) was improving. For that reason, you could say that EPS is more important that net income in the long run, assuming the goal is to assess whether a company's share price might grow.

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 Shanta Gold's Profit Performance

Over the last year Shanta Gold issued new shares and so, there's a noteworthy divergence between EPS and net income growth. For this reason, we think that Shanta Gold's statutory profits may be a bad guide to its underlying earnings power, and might give investors an overly positive impression of the company. The good news is that it earned a profit in the last twelve months, despite its previous loss. 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. At Simply Wall St, we found 3 warning signs for Shanta Gold and we think they deserve your attention.

This note has only looked at a single factor that sheds light on the nature of Shanta Gold'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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