Yahoo Finance Can Mixed Fundamentals Have A Negative Impact on Salesforce, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) Current Share Price Momentum?
Most readers would already be aware that Salesforce's (NYSE:CRM) stock increased significantly by 14% over the past three months. However, we wonder if the company's inconsistent financials would have any adverse impact on the current share price momentum. Particularly, we will be paying attention to Salesforce's ROE today.
Return on equity or ROE is a key measure used to assess how efficiently a company's management is utilizing the company's capital. Simply put, it is used to assess the profitability of a company in relation to its equity capital.
See our latest analysis for Salesforce
How Do You 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 Salesforce is:
0.7% = US$379m ÷ US$57b (Based on the trailing twelve months to April 2023).
The 'return' is the profit over the last twelve months. One way to conceptualize this is that for each $1 of shareholders' capital it has, the company made $0.01 in profit.
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. 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.
Salesforce's Earnings Growth And 0.7% ROE
It is quite clear that Salesforce's ROE is rather low. Not just that, even compared to the industry average of 11%, the company's ROE is entirely unremarkable. Hence, the flat earnings seen by Salesforce over the past five years could probably be the result of it having a lower ROE.
Next, on comparing with the industry net income growth, we found that Salesforce's reported growth was lower than the industry growth of 20% in the same period, which is not something we like to see.
Earnings growth is a huge factor in stock valuation. What investors need to determine next is if the expected earnings growth, or the lack of it, is already built into the share price. By doing so, they will have an idea if the stock is headed into clear blue waters or if swampy waters await. What is CRM worth today? The intrinsic value infographic in our free research report helps visualize whether CRM is currently mispriced by the market.
Is Salesforce Making Efficient Use Of Its Profits?
Salesforce doesn't pay any dividend, which means that it is retaining all of its earnings. This makes us question why the company is retaining so much of its profits and still generating almost no growth? So there could be some other explanations in that regard. For instance, the company's business may be deteriorating.
Summary
Overall, we have mixed feelings about Salesforce. While the company does have a high rate of profit retention, its low rate of return is probably hampering its earnings growth. That being so, the latest analyst forecasts show that the company will continue to see an expansion in its earnings. To know more about the company's future earnings growth forecasts take a look at this free report on analyst forecasts for the company to find out more.
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.
Join A Paid User Research Session
You’ll receive a US$30 Amazon Gift card for 1 hour of your time while helping us build better investing tools for the individual investors like yourself. Sign up here
