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PSC Insurance Group Limited's (ASX:PSI) Stock Has Shown Weakness Lately But Financial Prospects Look Decent: Is The Market Wrong?

With its stock down 6.9% over the past three months, it is easy to disregard PSC Insurance Group (ASX:PSI). But if you pay close attention, you might find that its key financial indicators look quite decent, which could mean that the stock could potentially rise in the long-term given how markets usually reward more resilient long-term fundamentals. Particularly, we will be paying attention to PSC Insurance Group's ROE today.

Return on Equity or ROE is a test of how effectively a company is growing its value and managing investors’ money. In short, ROE shows the profit each dollar generates with respect to its shareholder investments.

Check out our latest analysis for PSC Insurance Group

How Is ROE Calculated?

The formula for return on equity is:

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Return on Equity = Net Profit (from continuing operations) ÷ Shareholders' Equity

So, based on the above formula, the ROE for PSC Insurance Group is:

13% = AU$44m ÷ AU$346m (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2021).

The 'return' is the yearly profit. So, this means that for every A$1 of its shareholder's investments, the company generates a profit of A$0.13.

Why Is ROE Important For Earnings Growth?

Thus far, we have learned that ROE measures how efficiently a company is generating its profits. 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.

PSC Insurance Group's Earnings Growth And 13% ROE

To start with, PSC Insurance Group's ROE looks acceptable. On comparing with the average industry ROE of 9.9% the company's ROE looks pretty remarkable. This certainly adds some context to PSC Insurance Group's decent 12% net income growth seen over the past five years.

Next, on comparing with the industry net income growth, we found that PSC Insurance Group's growth is quite high when compared to the industry average growth of 6.9% in the same period, which is great to see.

past-earnings-growth
past-earnings-growth

Earnings growth is a huge factor in stock valuation. It’s important for an investor to know whether the market has priced in the company's expected earnings growth (or decline). This then helps them determine if the stock is placed for a bright or bleak future. Is PSC Insurance Group fairly valued compared to other companies? These 3 valuation measures might help you decide.

Is PSC Insurance Group Making Efficient Use Of Its Profits?

PSC Insurance Group has a significant three-year median payout ratio of 93%, meaning that it is left with only 7.3% to reinvest into its business. This implies that the company has been able to achieve decent earnings growth despite returning most of its profits to shareholders.

Additionally, PSC Insurance Group has paid dividends over a period of six years which means that the company is pretty serious about sharing its profits with shareholders. Upon studying the latest analysts' consensus data, we found that the company's future payout ratio is expected to drop to 60% over the next three years. Despite the lower expected payout ratio, the company's ROE is not expected to change by much.

Conclusion

On the whole, we do feel that PSC Insurance Group has some positive attributes. Especially the growth in earnings which was backed by an impressive ROE. Still, the high ROE could have been even more beneficial to investors had the company been reinvesting more of its profits. As highlighted earlier, the current reinvestment rate appears to be negligible. 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.