Advertisement
UK markets closed
  • FTSE 100

    8,164.12
    -15.56 (-0.19%)
     
  • FTSE 250

    20,286.03
    -45.77 (-0.23%)
     
  • AIM

    764.38
    -0.09 (-0.01%)
     
  • GBP/EUR

    1.1796
    -0.0009 (-0.07%)
     
  • GBP/USD

    1.2648
    +0.0006 (+0.05%)
     
  • Bitcoin GBP

    47,874.23
    -716.82 (-1.48%)
     
  • CMC Crypto 200

    1,261.66
    -22.17 (-1.73%)
     
  • S&P 500

    5,460.48
    -22.39 (-0.41%)
     
  • DOW

    39,118.86
    -45.20 (-0.12%)
     
  • CRUDE OIL

    81.46
    -0.28 (-0.34%)
     
  • GOLD FUTURES

    2,336.90
    +0.30 (+0.01%)
     
  • NIKKEI 225

    39,583.08
    +241.54 (+0.61%)
     
  • HANG SENG

    17,718.61
    +2.14 (+0.01%)
     
  • DAX

    18,235.45
    +24.90 (+0.14%)
     
  • CAC 40

    7,479.40
    -51.32 (-0.68%)
     

Is DroneShield Limited's (ASX:DRO) Stock's Recent Performance Being Led By Its Attractive Financial Prospects?

DroneShield (ASX:DRO) has had a great run on the share market with its stock up by a significant 18% over the last month. 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 DroneShield's ROE in this article.

Return on equity or ROE is an important factor to be considered by a shareholder because it tells them how effectively their capital is being reinvested. In short, ROE shows the profit each dollar generates with respect to its shareholder investments.

Check out our latest analysis for DroneShield

How To Calculate Return On Equity?

Return on equity can be calculated by using the formula:

Return on Equity = Net Profit (from continuing operations) ÷ Shareholders' Equity

ADVERTISEMENT

So, based on the above formula, the ROE for DroneShield is:

13% = AU$9.3m ÷ AU$75m (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2023).

The 'return' is the profit over the last twelve months. One way to conceptualize this is that for each A$1 of shareholders' capital it has, the company made A$0.13 in profit.

Why Is ROE Important For Earnings Growth?

So far, we've learned that ROE is a measure of a company's profitability. 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. Generally speaking, other things being equal, firms with a high return on equity and profit retention, have a higher growth rate than firms that don’t share these attributes.

DroneShield's Earnings Growth And 13% ROE

To begin with, DroneShield seems to have a respectable ROE. Especially when compared to the industry average of 9.9% the company's ROE looks pretty impressive. This certainly adds some context to DroneShield's exceptional 36% net income growth seen over the past five years. We believe that there might also be other aspects that are positively influencing the company's earnings growth. Such as - high earnings retention or an efficient management in place.

We then compared DroneShield'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 14% in the same 5-year period.

past-earnings-growth
past-earnings-growth

Earnings growth is an important metric to consider when valuing a stock. 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. If you're wondering about DroneShield's's valuation, check out this gauge of its price-to-earnings ratio, as compared to its industry.

Is DroneShield Efficiently Re-investing Its Profits?

DroneShield doesn't pay any regular dividends to its shareholders, meaning that the company has been reinvesting all of its profits into the business. This is likely what's driving the high earnings growth number discussed above.

Conclusion

Overall, we are quite pleased with DroneShield's performance. Particularly, we like that the company is reinvesting heavily into its business, and at a high rate of return. Unsurprisingly, this has led to an impressive earnings growth. On studying current analyst estimates, we found that analysts expect the company to continue its recent growth streak. 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.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.

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.