Yahoo Finance Could The Market Be Wrong About The Weir Group PLC (LON:WEIR) Given Its Attractive Financial Prospects?
With its stock down 8.6% over the past month, it is easy to disregard Weir Group (LON:WEIR). But if you pay close attention, you might gather that its strong financials could mean that the stock could potentially see an increase in value in the long-term, given how markets usually reward companies with good financial health. Particularly, we will be paying attention to Weir Group's ROE today.
Return on Equity or ROE is a test of how effectively a company is growing its value and managing investors’ money. Put another way, it reveals the company's success at turning shareholder investments into profits.
View our latest analysis for Weir Group
How Is ROE Calculated?
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 Weir Group is:
11% = UK£155m ÷ UK£1.5b (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2021).
The 'return' is the amount earned after tax over the last twelve months. One way to conceptualize this is that for each £1 of shareholders' capital it has, the company made £0.11 in profit.
Why Is ROE Important For Earnings Growth?
So far, we've learned that ROE is a measure of a company's profitability. 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 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.
Weir Group's Earnings Growth And 11% ROE
To begin with, Weir Group seems to have a respectable ROE. Even when compared to the industry average of 12% the company's ROE looks quite decent. This probably goes some way in explaining Weir Group's moderate 8.7% growth over the past five years amongst other factors.
Next, on comparing Weir Group's net income growth with the industry, we found that the company's reported growth is similar to the industry average growth rate of 8.0% in the same period.
The basis for attaching value to a company is, to a great extent, tied to its earnings growth. 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. What is WEIR worth today? The intrinsic value infographic in our free research report helps visualize whether WEIR is currently mispriced by the market.
Is Weir Group Making Efficient Use Of Its Profits?
With a three-year median payout ratio of 30% (implying that the company retains 70% of its profits), it seems that Weir Group is reinvesting efficiently in a way that it sees respectable amount growth in its earnings and pays a dividend that's well covered.
Additionally, Weir Group has paid dividends over a period of at least ten years which means that the company is pretty serious about sharing its profits with shareholders. Our latest analyst data shows that the future payout ratio of the company over the next three years is expected to be approximately 33%. However, Weir Group's ROE is predicted to rise to 16% despite there being no anticipated change in its payout ratio.
Summary
In total, we are pretty happy with Weir Group'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. With that said, the latest industry analyst forecasts reveal that the company's earnings are expected to accelerate. To know more about the latest analysts predictions for the company, check out this visualization of analyst forecasts for the company.
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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.
