Shareholders Shouldn’t Be Too Comfortable With CCC's (WSE:CCC) Strong Earnings

Even though CCC S.A. (WSE:CCC) posted strong earnings recently, the stock hasn't reacted in a large way. We looked deeper into the numbers and found that shareholders might be concerned with some underlying weaknesses.

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In order to understand the potential for per share returns, it is essential to consider how much a company is diluting shareholders. As it happens, CCC issued 21% more new shares over the last year. That means its earnings are split among a greater number of shares. To talk about net income, without noticing earnings per share, is to be distracted by the big numbers while ignoring the smaller numbers that talk to per share value. You can see a chart of CCC's EPS by clicking here.

How Is Dilution Impacting CCC's Earnings Per Share (EPS)?

Three years ago, CCC lost money. The good news is that profit was up 43% in the last twelve months. On the other hand, earnings per share are only up 34% over the same period. And so, you can see quite clearly that dilution is influencing shareholder earnings.

In the long term, earnings per share growth should beget share price growth. So CCC shareholders will want to see that EPS figure continue to increase. But on the other hand, we'd be far less excited to learn profit (but not EPS) was improving. For the ordinary retail shareholder, EPS is a great measure to check your hypothetical "share" of the company's profit.

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.

The Impact Of Unusual Items On Profit

Finally, we should also consider the fact that unusual items boosted CCC's net profit by zł374m 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. 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 CCC's positive unusual items were quite significant relative to its profit in the year to October 2025. 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 CCC's Profit Performance

In its last report CCC benefitted from unusual items which boosted its profit, which could make the profit seem better than it really is on a sustainable basis. On top of that, the dilution means that its earnings per share performance is worse than its profit performance. Considering all this we'd argue CCC's profits probably give an overly generous impression of its sustainable level of profitability. If you'd like to know more about CCC as a business, it's important to be aware of any risks it's facing. To that end, you should learn about the 4 warning signs we've spotted with CCC (including 1 which is significant).

In this article we've looked at a number of factors that can impair the utility of profit numbers, and we've come away cautious. 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 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.