The stock price didn't jump after Mermaid Maritime Public Company Limited (SGX:DU4) posted decent earnings last week. We think that investors might be worried about some concerning underlying factors.

Check out our latest analysis for Mermaid Maritime

How Do Unusual Items Influence Profit?

To properly understand Mermaid Maritime's profit results, we need to consider the ฿337m gain attributed to unusual items. 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 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. Which is hardly surprising, given the name. We can see that Mermaid Maritime's positive unusual items were quite significant relative to its profit in the year to December 2024. 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 Mermaid Maritime's Profit Performance

As previously mentioned, Mermaid Maritime's 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 Mermaid Maritime'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, its earnings per share increased by 39% in the last year. 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. 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. For example, we've found that Mermaid Maritime has 2 warning signs (1 doesn't sit too well with us!) that deserve your attention before going any further with your analysis.

This note has only looked at a single factor that sheds light on the nature of Mermaid Maritime'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 with high insider ownership.

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