Here's Why We Don't Think Tuan Sing Holdings' (SGX:T24) Statutory Earnings Reflect Its Underlying Earnings Potential

Broadly speaking, profitable businesses are less risky than unprofitable ones. 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. Today we'll focus on whether this year's statutory profits are a good guide to understanding Tuan Sing Holdings (SGX:T24).

It's good to see that over the last twelve months Tuan Sing Holdings made a profit of S$40.4m on revenue of S$251.2m. As depicted below, while its revenue may have fallen over the last few years, its profit actually improved.

View our latest analysis for Tuan Sing Holdings

Of course, it is only sensible to look beyond the statutory profits and question how well those numbers represent the sustainable earnings power of the business. This article will discuss how unusual items have impacted Tuan Sing Holdings' most recent profit results. 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.

How Do Unusual Items Influence Profit?

Importantly, our data indicates that Tuan Sing Holdings' profit received a boost of S$37m 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 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'. We can see that Tuan Sing Holdings' 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 Tuan Sing Holdings' Profit Performance

As previously mentioned, Tuan Sing Holdings' large boost from unusual items won't be there indefinitely, so its statutory earnings are probably a poor guide to its underlying profitability. For this reason, we think that Tuan Sing Holdings' statutory profits may be a bad guide to its underlying earnings power, and might give investors an overly positive impression of the company. Nonetheless, it's still worth noting that its earnings per share have grown at 55% over the last three years. 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. So while earnings quality is important, it's equally important to consider the risks facing Tuan Sing Holdings at this point in time. Case in point: We've spotted 5 warning signs for Tuan Sing Holdings you should be mindful of and 2 of these are potentially serious.

This note has only looked at a single factor that sheds light on the nature of Tuan Sing Holdings' 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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