With its stock down 8.6% over the past three months, it is easy to disregard Endurance Technologies (NSE:ENDURANCE). It is possible that the markets have ignored the company's differing financials and decided to lean-in to the negative sentiment. Stock prices are usually driven by a company’s financial performance over the long term, and therefore we decided to pay more attention to the company's financial performance. Particularly, we will be paying attention to Endurance Technologies' ROE today.
Return on equity or ROE is an important factor to be considered by a shareholder because it tells them how effectively their capital is being reinvested. Simply put, it is used to assess the profitability of a company in relation to its equity capital.
View our latest analysis for Endurance Technologies
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 Endurance Technologies is:
14% = ₹7.2b ÷ ₹50b (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2024).
The 'return' is the yearly profit. That means that for every ₹1 worth of shareholders' equity, the company generated ₹0.14 in profit.
We have already established that ROE serves as an efficient profit-generating gauge for a company's future earnings. 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.
On the face of it, Endurance Technologies' ROE is not much to talk about. However, given that the company's ROE is similar to the average industry ROE of 12%, we may spare it some thought. Having said that, Endurance Technologies has shown a meagre net income growth of 3.7% over the past five years. Remember, the company's ROE is not particularly great to begin with. So this could also be one of the reasons behind the company's low growth in earnings.
We then compared Endurance Technologies' net income growth with the industry and found that the company's growth figure is lower than the average industry growth rate of 23% in the same 5-year period, which is a bit concerning.
Earnings growth is a huge factor in stock valuation. 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 Endurance Technologies fairly valued compared to other companies? These 3 valuation measures might help you decide.
Endurance Technologies has a low three-year median payout ratio of 19% (meaning, the company keeps the remaining 81% of profits) which means that the company is retaining more of its earnings. However, the low earnings growth number doesn't reflect this fact. Therefore, there might be some other reasons to explain the lack in that respect. For example, the business could be in decline.
In addition, Endurance Technologies has been paying dividends over a period of seven years suggesting that keeping up dividend payments is way more important to the management even if it comes at the cost of business growth. Upon studying the latest analysts' consensus data, we found that the company's future payout ratio is expected to drop to 15% over the next three years. As a result, the expected drop in Endurance Technologies' payout ratio explains the anticipated rise in the company's future ROE to 17%, over the same period.
In total, we're a bit ambivalent about Endurance Technologies' performance. Even though it appears to be retaining most of its profits, given the low ROE, investors may not be benefitting from all that reinvestment after all. The low earnings growth suggests our theory correct. 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.
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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.