Is BLS International Services Limited's (NSE:BLS) Latest Stock Performance A Reflection Of Its Financial Health?

Simply Wall St · 08/31 02:13

BLS International Services (NSE:BLS) has had a great run on the share market with its stock up by a significant 35% over the last three months. Given the company's impressive performance, we decided to study its financial indicators more closely as a company's financial health over the long-term usually dictates market outcomes. Particularly, we will be paying attention to BLS International Services' ROE today.

Return on equity or ROE is a key measure used to assess how efficiently a company's management is utilizing the company's capital. In simpler terms, it measures the profitability of a company in relation to shareholder's equity.

See our latest analysis for BLS International Services

How To Calculate Return On Equity?

ROE can be calculated by using the formula:

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

So, based on the above formula, the ROE for BLS International Services is:

26% = ₹3.8b ÷ ₹14b (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2024).

The 'return' refers to a company's earnings over the last year. One way to conceptualize this is that for each ₹1 of shareholders' capital it has, the company made ₹0.26 in profit.

What Has ROE Got To Do With Earnings Growth?

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

A Side By Side comparison of BLS International Services' Earnings Growth And 26% ROE

At first glance, BLS International Services seems to have a decent ROE. Especially when compared to the industry average of 11% the company's ROE looks pretty impressive. This probably laid the ground for BLS International Services' significant 43% net income growth seen over the past five years. We reckon that there could also be other factors at play here. For instance, the company has a low payout ratio or is being managed efficiently.

As a next step, we compared BLS International Services' net income growth with the industry, and pleasingly, we found that the growth seen by the company is higher than the average industry growth of 24%.

past-earnings-growth
NSEI:BLS Past Earnings Growth August 31st 2024

Earnings growth is an important metric to consider when valuing a stock. 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 BLS International Services fairly valued compared to other companies? These 3 valuation measures might help you decide.

Is BLS International Services Making Efficient Use Of Its Profits?

BLS International Services has a really low three-year median payout ratio of 13%, meaning that it has the remaining 87% left over to reinvest into its business. This suggests that the management is reinvesting most of the profits to grow the business as evidenced by the growth seen by the company.

Additionally, BLS International Services has paid dividends over a period of eight years which means that the company is pretty serious about sharing its profits with shareholders.

Summary

In total, we are pretty happy with BLS International Services' performance. Particularly, we like that the company is reinvesting heavily into its business, and at a high rate of return. Unsurprisingly, this has led to an impressive earnings growth.