Yahoo Finance Aurizon Holdings Limited's (ASX:AZJ) Stock Has Shown Weakness Lately But Financial Prospects Look Decent: Is The Market Wrong?
With its stock down 3.8% over the past month, it is easy to disregard Aurizon Holdings (ASX:AZJ). But if you pay close attention, you might find that its key financial indicators look quite decent, which could mean that the stock could potentially rise in the long-term given how markets usually reward more resilient long-term fundamentals. Specifically, we decided to study Aurizon Holdings' ROE in this article.
Return on Equity or ROE is a test of how effectively a company is growing its value and managing investors’ money. In short, ROE shows the profit each dollar generates with respect to its shareholder investments.
See our latest analysis for Aurizon Holdings
How Is ROE Calculated?
ROE can be calculated by using the formula:
Return on Equity = Net Profit (from continuing operations) ÷ Shareholders' Equity
So, based on the above formula, the ROE for Aurizon Holdings is:
14% = AU$607m ÷ AU$4.3b (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2021).
The 'return' is the profit over the last twelve months. Another way to think of that is that for every A$1 worth of equity, the company was able to earn A$0.14 in profit.
What Has ROE Got To Do With Earnings Growth?
Thus far, we have learned that ROE measures how efficiently a company is generating its profits. We now need to evaluate how much profit the company reinvests or "retains" for future growth which then gives us an idea about the growth potential of the company. Assuming all else is equal, companies that have both a higher return on equity and higher profit retention are usually the ones that have a higher growth rate when compared to companies that don't have the same features.
Aurizon Holdings' Earnings Growth And 14% ROE
To begin with, Aurizon Holdings seems to have a respectable ROE. Further, the company's ROE compares quite favorably to the industry average of 9.0%. Probably as a result of this, Aurizon Holdings was able to see an impressive net income growth of 29% over the last five years. We reckon that there could also be other factors at play here. For example, it is possible that the company's management has made some good strategic decisions, or that the company has a low payout ratio.
Next, on comparing with the industry net income growth, we found that Aurizon Holdings' growth is quite high when compared to the industry average growth of 9.9% in the same period, which is great to see.
Earnings growth is a huge factor in stock valuation. The investor should try to establish if the expected growth or decline in earnings, whichever the case may be, is priced in. By doing so, they will have an idea if the stock is headed into clear blue waters or if swampy waters await. Is AZJ fairly valued? This infographic on the company's intrinsic value has everything you need to know.
Is Aurizon Holdings Efficiently Re-investing Its Profits?
Aurizon Holdings' significant three-year median payout ratio of 95% (where it is retaining only 5.4% of its income) suggests that the company has been able to achieve a high growth in earnings despite returning most of its income to shareholders.
Besides, Aurizon Holdings has been paying dividends for at least ten years or more. This shows that the company is committed to sharing profits with its shareholders. Upon studying the latest analysts' consensus data, we found that the company is expected to keep paying out approximately 96% of its profits over the next three years. As a result, Aurizon Holdings' ROE is not expected to change by much either, which we inferred from the analyst estimate of 12% for future ROE.
Summary
Overall, we feel that Aurizon Holdings certainly does have some positive factors to consider. Specifically, its high ROE which likely led to the growth in earnings. Bear in mind, the company reinvests little to none of its profits, which means that investors aren't necessarily reaping the full benefits of the high rate of return. Having said that, on studying current analyst estimates, we were concerned to see that while the company has grown its earnings in the past, analysts expect its earnings to shrink in the future. To know more about the latest analysts predictions for the company, check out this visualization of analyst forecasts for the company.
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.
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