Yahoo Finance Are Poor Financial Prospects Dragging Down KMD Brands Limited (NZSE:KMD Stock?
With its stock down 22% over the past three months, it is easy to disregard KMD Brands (NZSE:KMD). We decided to study the company's financials to determine if the downtrend will continue as the long-term performance of a company usually dictates market outcomes. Specifically, we decided to study KMD Brands' ROE in this article.
Return on equity or ROE is a key measure used to assess how efficiently a company's management is utilizing the company's capital. Put another way, it reveals the company's success at turning shareholder investments into profits.
Check out our latest analysis for KMD Brands
How Is ROE Calculated?
The formula for ROE is:
Return on Equity = Net Profit (from continuing operations) ÷ Shareholders' Equity
So, based on the above formula, the ROE for KMD Brands is:
4.4% = NZ$36m ÷ NZ$814m (Based on the trailing twelve months to January 2022).
The 'return' is the amount earned after tax over the last twelve months. One way to conceptualize this is that for each NZ$1 of shareholders' capital it has, the company made NZ$0.04 in profit.
What Is The Relationship Between ROE And Earnings Growth?
We have already established that ROE serves as an efficient profit-generating gauge for a company's future earnings. Depending on how much of these profits the company reinvests or "retains", and how effectively it does so, we are then able to assess a company’s earnings growth potential. 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.
KMD Brands' Earnings Growth And 4.4% ROE
At first glance, KMD Brands' ROE doesn't look very promising. Next, when compared to the average industry ROE of 12%, the company's ROE leaves us feeling even less enthusiastic. Therefore, KMD Brands' flat earnings over the past five years can possibly be explained by the low ROE amongst other factors.
As a next step, we compared KMD Brands' net income growth with the industry and discovered that the industry saw an average growth of 8.4% in the same period.
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. This then helps them determine if the stock is placed for a bright or bleak future. Is KMD Brands fairly valued compared to other companies? These 3 valuation measures might help you decide.
Is KMD Brands Making Efficient Use Of Its Profits?
KMD Brands has a high three-year median payout ratio of 79% (or a retention ratio of 21%), meaning that the company is paying most of its profits as dividends to its shareholders. This does go some way in explaining why there's been no growth in its earnings.
Moreover, KMD Brands has been paying dividends for at least ten years or more suggesting that management must have perceived that the shareholders prefer dividends over earnings growth. Our latest analyst data shows that the future payout ratio of the company over the next three years is expected to be approximately 75%. However, KMD Brands' ROE is predicted to rise to 11% despite there being no anticipated change in its payout ratio.
Conclusion
In total, we would have a hard think before deciding on any investment action concerning KMD Brands. The company has seen a lack of earnings growth as a result of retaining very little profits and whatever little it does retain, is being reinvested at a very low rate of return. Having said that, looking at current analyst estimates, we found that the company's earnings growth rate is expected to see a huge improvement. Are these analysts expectations based on the broad expectations for the industry, or on the company's fundamentals? Click here to be taken to our analyst's forecasts page 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.
