Yahoo Finance Is Amazon.com, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:AMZN) Recent Stock Performance Tethered To Its Strong Fundamentals?
Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) has had a great run on the share market with its stock up by a significant 22% 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 Amazon.com's 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. Put another way, it reveals the company's success at turning shareholder investments into profits.
View our latest analysis for Amazon.com
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 Amazon.com is:
15% = US$30b ÷ US$202b (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2023).
The 'return' is the yearly profit. So, this means that for every $1 of its shareholder's investments, the company generates a profit of $0.15.
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. 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 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.
Amazon.com's Earnings Growth And 15% ROE
To start with, Amazon.com's ROE looks acceptable. Further, the company's ROE is similar to the industry average of 16%. This certainly adds some context to Amazon.com's moderate 5.7% net income growth seen over the past five years.
Next, on comparing with the industry net income growth, we found that Amazon.com's reported growth was lower than the industry growth of 14% over the last few years, which is not something we like to see.
Earnings growth is a huge factor in stock valuation. It’s important for an investor to know whether the market has priced in the company's expected earnings growth (or decline). Doing so will help them establish if the stock's future looks promising or ominous. Is AMZN fairly valued? This infographic on the company's intrinsic value has everything you need to know.
Is Amazon.com Efficiently Re-investing Its Profits?
Given that Amazon.com doesn't pay any regular dividends to its shareholders, we infer that the company has been reinvesting all of its profits to grow its business.
Summary
Overall, we are quite pleased with Amazon.com's performance. In particular, it's great to see that the company is investing heavily into its business and along with a high rate of return, that has resulted in a respectable growth in its earnings. 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.
