Yahoo Finance Declining Stock and Solid Fundamentals: Is The Market Wrong About Vistry Group PLC (LON:VTY)?
With its stock down 5.0% over the past three months, it is easy to disregard Vistry Group (LON:VTY). 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 Vistry Group's ROE today.
ROE or return on equity is a useful tool to assess how effectively a company can generate returns on the investment it received from its shareholders. In other words, it is a profitability ratio which measures the rate of return on the capital provided by the company's shareholders.
View our latest analysis for Vistry Group
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 Vistry Group is:
9.2% = UK£210m ÷ UK£2.3b (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2021).
The 'return' is the income the business earned over the last year. That means that for every £1 worth of shareholders' equity, the company generated £0.09 in profit.
What Has ROE Got To Do With Earnings Growth?
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 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 Vistry Group's Earnings Growth And 9.2% ROE
To begin with, Vistry Group seems to have a respectable ROE. Even so, when compared with the average industry ROE of 12%, we aren't very excited. Additionally, the low net income growth of 2.1% seen by Vistry Group over the past five years doesn't paint a very bright picture. Bear in mind, the company does have a respectable level of ROE. It is just that the industry ROE is higher. Therefore, the low earnings growth could be the result of other factors. For example, it could be that the company has a high payout ratio or the business has allocated capital poorly, for instance.
Given that the industry shrunk its earnings at a rate of 6.8% in the same period, the net income growth of the company is quite impressive.
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. Doing so will help them establish if the stock's future looks promising or ominous. Is VTY fairly valued? This infographic on the company's intrinsic value has everything you need to know.
Is Vistry Group Using Its Retained Earnings Effectively?
Despite having a moderate three-year median payout ratio of 46% (implying that the company retains the remaining 54% of its income), Vistry Group's earnings growth was quite low. So there could be some other explanation in that regard. For instance, the company's business may be deteriorating.
Additionally, Vistry Group has paid dividends over a period of at least ten years, which means that the company's management is determined to pay dividends even if it means little to no earnings growth. Looking at the current analyst consensus data, we can see that the company's future payout ratio is expected to rise to 57% over the next three years. Still, forecasts suggest that Vistry Group's future ROE will rise to 13% even though the the company's payout ratio is expected to rise. We presume that there could some other characteristics of the business that could be driving the anticipated growth in the company's ROE.
Conclusion
On the whole, we feel that Vistry Group's performance has been quite good. Particularly, we like that the company is reinvesting heavily into its business at a moderate rate of return. Unsurprisingly, this has led to an impressive earnings growth. 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 latest analysts predictions for the company, check out this visualization of analyst forecasts for the company.
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.
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