Are Robust Financials Driving The Recent Rally In City Service SE's (WSE:CTS) Stock?

Simply Wall St · 07/03 09:44

City Service's (WSE:CTS) stock is up by a considerable 19% over the past three months. Since the market usually pay for a company’s long-term fundamentals, we decided to study the company’s key performance indicators to see if they could be influencing the market. Specifically, we decided to study City Service's ROE in this article.

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.

How To Calculate Return On Equity?

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 City Service is:

24% = €7.2m ÷ €31m (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2025).

The 'return' is the income the business earned over the last year. One way to conceptualize this is that for each PLN1 of shareholders' capital it has, the company made PLN0.24 in profit.

Check out our latest analysis for City Service

Why Is ROE Important For 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. 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.

A Side By Side comparison of City Service's Earnings Growth And 24% ROE

To start with, City Service's ROE looks acceptable. On comparing with the average industry ROE of 12% the company's ROE looks pretty remarkable. Probably as a result of this, City Service was able to see a decent growth of 11% over the last five years.

Next, on comparing City Service's net income growth with the industry, we found that the company's reported growth is similar to the industry average growth rate of 11% over the last few years.

past-earnings-growth
WSE:CTS Past Earnings Growth July 3rd 2025

Earnings growth is an important metric to consider when valuing a stock. The investor should try to establish if the expected growth or decline in earnings, whichever the case may be, is priced in. This then helps them determine if the stock is placed for a bright or bleak future. Is City Service fairly valued compared to other companies? These 3 valuation measures might help you decide.

Is City Service Efficiently Re-investing Its Profits?

City Service's three-year median payout ratio to shareholders is 23% (implying that it retains 77% of its income), which is on the lower side, so it seems like the management is reinvesting profits heavily to grow its business.

Besides, City Service has been paying dividends for at least ten years or more. This shows that the company is committed to sharing profits with its shareholders.

Conclusion

On the whole, we feel that City Service's performance has been quite good. Specifically, we like that the company is reinvesting a huge chunk of its profits at a high rate of return. This of course has caused the company to see substantial growth in its earnings. If the company continues to grow its earnings the way it has, that could have a positive impact on its share price given how earnings per share influence long-term share prices. Remember, the price of a stock is also dependent on the perceived risk. Therefore investors must keep themselves informed about the risks involved before investing in any company. To know the 4 risks we have identified for City Service visit our risks dashboard for free.