Advertisement
Australia markets open in 5 hours 26 minutes

  • ALL ORDS

    8,479.00
    +62.40 (+0.74%)
     

  • AUD/USD

    0.6764
    -0.0035 (-0.52%)
     

  • ASX 200

    8,205.40
    +55.40 (+0.68%)
     

  • OIL

    77.05
    +2.67 (+3.59%)
     

  • GOLD

    2,664.00
    -3.80 (-0.14%)
     

  • Bitcoin AUD

    93,979.00
    +1,296.61 (+1.40%)
     

  • XRP AUD

    0.80
    +0.01 (+1.60%)
     

Should You Be Impressed By AbbVie Inc.'s (NYSE:ABBV) ROE?

editorial-team@simplywallst.com (Simply Wall St)
·3-min read

Many investors are still learning about the various metrics that can be useful when analysing a stock. This article is for those who would like to learn about Return On Equity (ROE). To keep the lesson grounded in practicality, we'll use ROE to better understand AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV).

ROE or return on equity is a useful tool to assess how effectively a company can generate returns on the investment it received from its shareholders. 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 AbbVie

How To Calculate Return On Equity?

Return on equity 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 AbbVie is:

54% = US$6.5b ÷ US$12b (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2023).

The 'return' is the amount earned after tax over the last twelve months. That means that for every $1 worth of shareholders' equity, the company generated $0.54 in profit.

Does AbbVie Have A Good Return On Equity?

One simple way to determine if a company has a good return on equity is to compare it to the average for its industry. The limitation of this approach is that some companies are quite different from others, even within the same industry classification. As you can see in the graphic below, AbbVie has a higher ROE than the average (17%) in the Biotechs industry.

roe
roe

That is a good sign. However, bear in mind that a high ROE doesn’t necessarily indicate efficient profit generation. Especially when a firm uses high levels of debt to finance its debt which may boost its ROE but the high leverage puts the company at risk. To know the 4 risks we have identified for AbbVie visit our risks dashboard for free.

How Does Debt Impact Return On Equity?

Virtually all companies need money to invest in the business, to grow profits. That cash can come from retained earnings, issuing new shares (equity), or debt. In the first and second cases, the ROE will reflect this use of cash for investment in the business. In the latter case, the debt required for growth will boost returns, but will not impact the shareholders' equity. Thus the use of debt can improve ROE, albeit along with extra risk in the case of stormy weather, metaphorically speaking.

Combining AbbVie's Debt And Its 54% Return On Equity

It seems that AbbVie uses a huge volume of debt to fund the business, since it has an extremely high debt to equity ratio of 5.04. While its ROE is no doubt quite impressive, it could give a false impression about the company's returns given that its huge debt could be boosting those returns.

Summary

Return on equity is one way we can compare its business quality of different companies. A company that can achieve a high return on equity without debt could be considered a high quality business. If two companies have the same ROE, then I would generally prefer the one with less debt.

But when a business is high quality, the market often bids it up to a price that reflects this. Profit growth rates, versus the expectations reflected in the price of the stock, are a particularly important to consider. So you might want to check this FREE visualization of analyst forecasts for the company.

If you would prefer check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss this free list of interesting companies, that have HIGH return on equity and low debt.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.

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.