KCC's (KRX:002380) Earnings Are Of Questionable Quality

KCC Corporation (KRX:002380) announced strong profits, but the stock was stagnant. Our analysis suggests that this might be because shareholders have noticed some concerning underlying factors.

Check out our latest analysis for KCC

How Do Unusual Items Influence Profit?

Importantly, our data indicates that KCC's profit received a boost of ₩425b in unusual items, over the last year. We can't deny that higher profits generally leave us optimistic, but we'd prefer it if the profit were to be sustainable. When we analysed the vast majority of listed companies worldwide, we found that significant unusual items are often not repeated. And that's as you'd expect, given these boosts are described as 'unusual'. We can see that KCC's positive unusual items were quite significant relative to its profit in the year to December 2020. As a result, we can surmise that the unusual items are making its statutory profit significantly stronger than it would otherwise be.

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 KCC's Profit Performance

As we discussed above, we think the significant positive unusual item makes KCC's earnings a poor guide to its underlying profitability. For this reason, we think that KCC's statutory profits may be a bad guide to its underlying earnings power, and might give investors an overly positive impression of the company. On the bright side, the company showed enough improvement to book a profit this year, after losing money last year. 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. With this in mind, we wouldn't consider investing in a stock unless we had a thorough understanding of the risks. Case in point: We've spotted 3 warning signs for KCC you should be mindful of and 2 of these are a bit unpleasant.

Today we've zoomed in on a single data point to better understand the nature of KCC's profit. But there are plenty of other ways to inform your opinion of a company. 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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