Yahoo Finance Is SNC-Lavalin Group Inc.'s (TSE:SNC) Recent Stock Performance Influenced By Its Fundamentals In Any Way?
SNC-Lavalin Group (TSE:SNC) has had a great run on the share market with its stock up by a significant 7.5% over the last month. As most would know, fundamentals are what usually guide market price movements over the long-term, so we decided to look at the company's key financial indicators today to determine if they have any role to play in the recent price movement. In this article, we decided to focus on SNC-Lavalin Group's ROE.
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 SNC-Lavalin Group
How Is ROE Calculated?
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 SNC-Lavalin Group is:
3.5% = CA$106m ÷ CA$3.0b (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2021).
The 'return' refers to a company's earnings over the last year. That means that for every CA$1 worth of shareholders' equity, the company generated CA$0.04 in profit.
Why Is ROE Important For 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.
SNC-Lavalin Group's Earnings Growth And 3.5% ROE
As you can see, SNC-Lavalin Group's ROE looks pretty weak. Even compared to the average industry ROE of 10%, the company's ROE is quite dismal. Although, we can see that SNC-Lavalin Group saw a modest net income growth of 9.9% over the past five years. We reckon that there could be other factors at play here. For instance, the company has a low payout ratio or is being managed efficiently.
Next, on comparing with the industry net income growth, we found that SNC-Lavalin Group's reported growth was lower than the industry growth of 15% in the same period, which is not something we like to see.
The basis for attaching value to a company is, to a great extent, tied to its earnings growth. 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. One good indicator of expected earnings growth is the P/E ratio which determines the price the market is willing to pay for a stock based on its earnings prospects. So, you may want to check if SNC-Lavalin Group is trading on a high P/E or a low P/E, relative to its industry.
Is SNC-Lavalin Group Efficiently Re-investing Its Profits?
SNC-Lavalin Group has a low LTM (or last twelve month) payout ratio of 14%, meaning that the company retains the remaining 86% of its profits. This suggests that the management is reinvesting most of the profits to grow the business.
Besides, SNC-Lavalin Group has been paying dividends for at least ten years or more. This shows that the company is committed to sharing profits with its shareholders. Existing analyst estimates suggest that the company's future payout ratio is expected to drop to 5.1% over the next three years. The fact that the company's ROE is expected to rise to 11% over the same period is explained by the drop in the payout ratio.
Conclusion
On the whole, we do feel that SNC-Lavalin Group has some positive attributes. That is, a decent growth in earnings backed by a high rate of reinvestment. However, we do feel that that earnings growth could have been higher if the business were to improve on the low ROE rate. Especially given how the company is reinvesting a huge chunk of its profits. With that said, the latest industry analyst forecasts reveal that the company's earnings are expected to accelerate. 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.
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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.
