Should You Rely On Alphabet's (NASDAQ:GOOG.L) Earnings Growth?

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. This article will consider whether Alphabet's (NASDAQ:GOOG.L) statutory profits are a good guide to its underlying earnings.

It's good to see that over the last twelve months Alphabet made a profit of US$40.3b on revenue of US$182.5b. In the chart below, you can see that its profit and revenue have both grown over the last three years.

See our latest analysis for Alphabet

Importantly, statutory profits are not always the best tool for understanding a company's true earnings power, so it's well worth examining profits in a little more detail. This article will discuss how unusual items have impacted Alphabet's 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.

The Impact Of Unusual Items On Profit

Importantly, our data indicates that Alphabet's profit received a boost of US$5.8b in unusual items, over the last year. While it's always nice to have higher profit, a large contribution from unusual items sometimes dampens our enthusiasm. 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 that's as you'd expect, given these boosts are described as 'unusual'. If Alphabet doesn't see that contribution repeat, then all else being equal we'd expect its profit to drop over the current year.

Our Take On Alphabet's Profit Performance

We'd posit that Alphabet's statutory earnings aren't a clean read on ongoing productivity, due to the large unusual item. Because of this, we think that it may be that Alphabet's statutory profits are better than its underlying earnings power. But on the bright side, its earnings per share have grown at an extremely impressive rate 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. Ultimately, this article has formed an opinion based on historical data. However, it can also be great to think about what analysts are forecasting for the future. So feel free to check out our free graph representing analyst forecasts.

This note has only looked at a single factor that sheds light on the nature of Alphabet's profit. But there is always more to discover if you are capable of focussing your mind on minutiae. Some people consider a high return on equity to be a good sign of a quality business. While it might take a little research on your behalf, you may find this free collection of companies boasting high return on equity, or this list of stocks that insiders are buying to be useful.

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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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