Capital gains from the sale of land or casualty losses are items that are often seen as nonrecurring gains and losses. Write-offs or write-downs relating to normal business expenses (i.e. inventory) are not be considered nonrecurring losses unless they are due to one-time events, such as a natural disaster.
Investors need to carefully examine a company’s financial statements to see what types of nonrecurring gains and/or losses a holding posts and how frequently they engage in these types of transactions. While by their very nature nonrecurring gains and losses are meant to occur very infrequently, the reality is that companies often report these types of expenses.