Yahoo Finance Declining Stock and Solid Fundamentals: Is The Market Wrong About Stella-Jones Inc. (TSE:SJ)?
It is hard to get excited after looking at Stella-Jones' (TSE:SJ) recent performance, when its stock has declined 4.2% over the past month. However, a closer look at its sound financials might cause you to think again. Given that fundamentals usually drive long-term market outcomes, the company is worth looking at. In this article, we decided to focus on Stella-Jones' ROE.
Return on equity or ROE is an important factor to be considered by a shareholder because it tells them how effectively their capital is being reinvested. In other words, it is a profitability ratio which measures the rate of return on the capital provided by the company's shareholders.
See our latest analysis for Stella-Jones
How To Calculate Return On Equity?
The formula for ROE is:
Return on Equity = Net Profit (from continuing operations) ÷ Shareholders' Equity
So, based on the above formula, the ROE for Stella-Jones is:
20% = CA$326m ÷ CA$1.7b (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2023).
The 'return' is the amount earned after tax over the last twelve months. So, this means that for every CA$1 of its shareholder's investments, the company generates a profit of CA$0.20.
What Has ROE Got To Do With Earnings Growth?
We have already established that ROE serves as an efficient profit-generating gauge for a company's future earnings. Based on how much of its profits the company chooses to reinvest or "retain", we are then able to evaluate a company's future ability to generate profits. Generally speaking, other things being equal, firms with a high return on equity and profit retention, have a higher growth rate than firms that don’t share these attributes.
Stella-Jones' Earnings Growth And 20% ROE
At first glance, Stella-Jones seems to have a decent ROE. On comparing with the average industry ROE of 13% the company's ROE looks pretty remarkable. Probably as a result of this, Stella-Jones was able to see a decent growth of 14% over the last five years.
We then compared Stella-Jones' net income growth with the industry and found that the company's growth figure is lower than the average industry growth rate of 18% in the same 5-year period, which is a bit concerning.
The basis for attaching value to a company is, to a great extent, tied to its earnings growth. What investors need to determine next is if the expected earnings growth, or the lack of it, is already built into the share price. Doing so will help them establish if the stock's future looks promising or ominous. If you're wondering about Stella-Jones''s valuation, check out this gauge of its price-to-earnings ratio, as compared to its industry.
Is Stella-Jones Making Efficient Use Of Its Profits?
Stella-Jones has a low three-year median payout ratio of 20%, meaning that the company retains the remaining 80% of its profits. This suggests that the management is reinvesting most of the profits to grow the business.
Moreover, Stella-Jones is determined to keep sharing its profits with shareholders which we infer from its long history of paying a dividend for at least ten years. Our latest analyst data shows that the future payout ratio of the company over the next three years is expected to be approximately 18%. Accordingly, forecasts suggest that Stella-Jones' future ROE will be 19% which is again, similar to the current ROE.
Summary
On the whole, we feel that Stella-Jones' performance has been quite good. Specifically, we like that the company is reinvesting a huge chunk of its profits at a high rate of return. This of course has caused the company to see a good amount of growth in its earnings. With that said, the latest industry analyst forecasts reveal that the company's earnings growth is expected to slow down. To know more about the latest analysts predictions for the company, check out this visualization of analyst forecasts for the company.
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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.
