Yahoo Finance Premier Foods plc's (LON:PFD) Recent Stock Performance Looks Decent- Can Strong Fundamentals Be the Reason?
Most readers would already know that Premier Foods' (LON:PFD) stock increased by 8.4% over the past three months. Given its impressive performance, we decided to study the company's key financial indicators as a company's long-term fundamentals usually dictate market outcomes. Particularly, we will be paying attention to Premier Foods' ROE today.
Return on Equity or ROE is a test of how effectively a company is growing its value and managing investors’ money. 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 Premier Foods
How To Calculate Return On Equity?
The formula for return on equity is:
Return on Equity = Net Profit (from continuing operations) ÷ Shareholders' Equity
So, based on the above formula, the ROE for Premier Foods is:
9.0% = UK£106m ÷ UK£1.2b (Based on the trailing twelve months to April 2021).
The 'return' refers to a company's earnings over the last year. Another way to think of that is that for every £1 worth of equity, the company was able to earn £0.09 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. 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. Assuming everything else remains unchanged, the higher the ROE and profit retention, the higher the growth rate of a company compared to companies that don't necessarily bear these characteristics.
A Side By Side comparison of Premier Foods' Earnings Growth And 9.0% ROE
At first glance, Premier Foods seems to have a decent ROE. Further, the company's ROE is similar to the industry average of 8.2%. This certainly adds some context to Premier Foods' exceptional 39% net income growth seen over the past 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 Premier Foods' growth is quite high when compared to the industry average growth of 2.8% in the same period, which is great to see.
The basis for attaching value to a company is, to a great extent, tied to its earnings growth. The investor should try to establish if the expected growth or decline in earnings, whichever the case may be, is priced in. Doing so will help them establish if the stock's future looks promising or ominous. If you're wondering about Premier Foods''s valuation, check out this gauge of its price-to-earnings ratio, as compared to its industry.
Is Premier Foods Efficiently Re-investing Its Profits?
Premier Foods has a really low three-year median payout ratio of 8.0%, meaning that it has the remaining 92% left over to reinvest into its business. So it seems like the management is reinvesting profits heavily to grow its business and this reflects in its earnings growth number.
Looking at the current analyst consensus data, we can see that the company's future payout ratio is expected to rise to 16% over the next three years. Accordingly, the expected increase in the payout ratio explains the expected decline in the company's ROE to 6.8%, over the same period.
Conclusion
Overall, we are quite pleased with Premier Foods' performance. In particular, it's great to see that the company is investing heavily into its business and along with a high rate of return, that has resulted in a sizeable growth in its earnings. That being so, according to the latest industry analyst forecasts, the company's earnings are expected to shrink in the future. 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.
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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