Yahoo Finance Should Weakness in Nanosonics Limited's (ASX:NAN) Stock Be Seen As A Sign That Market Will Correct The Share Price Given Decent Financials?
With its stock down 32% over the past three months, it is easy to disregard Nanosonics (ASX:NAN). However, the company's fundamentals look pretty decent, and long-term financials are usually aligned with future market price movements. Particularly, we will be paying attention to Nanosonics' ROE today.
Return on Equity or ROE is a test of how effectively a company is growing its value and managing investors’ money. In simpler terms, it measures the profitability of a company in relation to shareholder's equity.
View our latest analysis for Nanosonics
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 Nanosonics is:
8.9% = AU$16m ÷ AU$176m (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2023).
The 'return' is the income the business earned over the last year. Another way to think of that is that for every A$1 worth of equity, the company was able to earn A$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. 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.
Nanosonics' Earnings Growth And 8.9% ROE
At first glance, Nanosonics' ROE doesn't look very promising. However, its ROE is similar to the industry average of 7.7%, so we won't completely dismiss the company. Even so, Nanosonics has shown a fairly decent growth in its net income which grew at a rate of 5.6%. Given the slightly low ROE, it is likely that there could be some other aspects that are driving this growth. Such as - high earnings retention or an efficient management in place.
We then performed a comparison between Nanosonics' net income growth with the industry, which revealed that the company's growth is similar to the average industry growth of 5.6% in the same 5-year period.
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. Is NAN fairly valued? This infographic on the company's intrinsic value has everything you need to know.
Is Nanosonics Making Efficient Use Of Its Profits?
Nanosonics doesn't pay any regular dividends currently which essentially means that it has been reinvesting all of its profits into the business. This definitely contributes to the decent earnings growth number that we discussed above.
Summary
Overall, we feel that Nanosonics certainly does have some positive factors to consider. Despite its low rate of return, the fact that the company reinvests a very high portion of its profits into its business, no doubt contributed to its high earnings growth. With that said, the latest industry analyst forecasts reveal that the company's earnings are expected to accelerate. To know more about the latest analysts predictions for the company, check out this visualization of analyst forecasts 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.
