Royalty Pharma plc's (NASDAQ:RPRX ) stock didn't jump after it announced some healthy earnings. We think that investors might be worried about some concerning underlying factors.

How Do Unusual Items Influence Profit?

For anyone who wants to understand Royalty Pharma's profit beyond the statutory numbers, it's important to note that during the last twelve months statutory profit gained from US$349m worth of unusual items. 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, after all, that's exactly what the accounting terminology implies. If Royalty Pharma doesn't see that contribution repeat, then all else being equal we'd expect its profit to drop over the current year.

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 Royalty Pharma's Profit Performance

We'd posit that Royalty Pharma'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 Royalty Pharma's statutory profits are better than its underlying earnings power. But the happy news is that, while acknowledging we have to look beyond the statutory numbers, those numbers are still improving, with EPS growing at a very high rate over 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. With this in mind, we wouldn't consider investing in a stock unless we had a thorough understanding of the risks. For example - Royalty Pharma has 3 warning signs we think you should be aware of.

Today we've zoomed in on a single data point to better understand the nature of Royalty Pharma'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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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.