Despite Amplify Energy Corp.'s (NYSE:AMPY) most recent earnings report having soft headline numbers, its stock has had a positive performance. We did some analysis and found some positive factors that investors might be paying attention to rather than profit.

See our latest analysis for Amplify Energy

Operating Revenue Or Not?

At most companies, some revenue streams, such as government grants, are accounted for as non-operating revenue, while the core business is said to produce operating revenue. Generally speaking, operating revenue is a more reliable guide to the sustainable revenue generating capacity of the business. However, we note that when non-operating revenue increases suddenly, it will sometimes generate an unsustainable boost to profit. It's worth noting that Amplify Energy saw a big increase in non-operating revenue over the last year. In fact, our data indicates that non-operating revenue increased from -US$25.7m to US$9.30m. If that non-operating revenue fails to manifest in the current year, then there's a real risk the bottom line profit result will be impacted negatively. Sometimes, you can get a better idea of the underlying earnings potential of a company by excluding unusual boosts to non-operating revenue.

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?

Alongside that spike in non-operating revenue, it's also important to note that Amplify Energy'sprofit suffered from unusual items, which reduced profit by US$6.1m in the last twelve months. While deductions due to unusual items are disappointing in the first instance, there is a silver lining. We looked at thousands of listed companies and found that unusual items are very often one-off in nature. And that's hardly a surprise given these line items are considered unusual. If Amplify Energy doesn't see those unusual expenses repeat, then all else being equal we'd expect its profit to increase over the coming year.

Our Take On Amplify Energy's Profit Performance

In the last year Amplify Energy's non-operating revenue really gave it a boost, but not in a way that is necessarily going to be sustained. Having said that, it also took a hit from unusual items, which could bode well for next year, assuming the expense was one-off in nature. Based on these factors, we think it's very unlikely that Amplify Energy's statutory profits make it seem much weaker than it is. 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. Case in point: We've spotted 1 warning sign for Amplify Energy you should be aware of.