Yahoo Finance Is AMETEK, Inc.'s (NYSE:AME) Stock's Recent Performance A Reflection Of Its Financial Health?
AMETEK's (NYSE:AME) stock up by 4.1% over the past week. Given that the market rewards strong financials in the long-term, we wonder if that is the case in this instance. Particularly, we will be paying attention to AMETEK'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. In short, ROE shows the profit each dollar generates with respect to its shareholder investments.
Check out our latest analysis for AMETEK
How Do You Calculate Return On Equity?
Return on equity 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 AMETEK is:
15% = US$872m ÷ US$5.9b (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2020).
The 'return' is the yearly profit. Another way to think of that is that for every $1 worth of equity, the company was able to earn $0.15 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. 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.
A Side By Side comparison of AMETEK's Earnings Growth And 15% ROE
To start with, AMETEK's ROE looks acceptable. Especially when compared to the industry average of 8.6% the company's ROE looks pretty impressive. This certainly adds some context to AMETEK's decent 12% net income growth seen over the past five years.
We then compared AMETEK's net income growth with the industry and we're pleased to see that the company's growth figure is higher when compared with the industry which has a growth rate of 8.1% in the same period.
The basis for attaching value to a company is, to a great extent, tied to its earnings growth. 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 AME fairly valued? This infographic on the company's intrinsic value has everything you need to know.
Is AMETEK Efficiently Re-investing Its Profits?
AMETEK has a low three-year median payout ratio of 15%, meaning that the company retains the remaining 85% of its profits. This suggests that the management is reinvesting most of the profits to grow the business.
Besides, AMETEK has been paying dividends for at least ten years or more. This shows that the company is committed to sharing profits with its shareholders. Our latest analyst data shows that the future payout ratio of the company over the next three years is expected to be approximately 17%. Therefore, the company's future ROE is also not expected to change by much with analysts predicting an ROE of 16%.
Conclusion
In total, we are pretty happy with AMETEK's performance. 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. We also studied the latest analyst forecasts and found that the company's earnings growth is expected be similar to its current growth rate. 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.
This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. 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.
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