Yahoo Finance Do Its Financials Have Any Role To Play In Driving Granite Construction Incorporated's (NYSE:GVA) Stock Up Recently?
Granite Construction's (NYSE:GVA) stock is up by a considerable 21% over the past three months. We wonder if and what role the company's financials play in that price change as a company's long-term fundamentals usually dictate market outcomes. Specifically, we decided to study Granite Construction's ROE in this article.
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 Granite Construction
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 Granite Construction is:
2.9% = US$30m ÷ US$1.0b (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2023).
The 'return' is the profit over the last twelve months. So, this means that for every $1 of its shareholder's investments, the company generates a profit of $0.03.
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. 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 Granite Construction's Earnings Growth And 2.9% ROE
As you can see, Granite Construction's ROE looks pretty weak. Not just that, even compared to the industry average of 12%, the company's ROE is entirely unremarkable. Despite this, surprisingly, Granite Construction saw an exceptional 48% net income growth over the past five years. We believe that there might be other aspects that are positively influencing the company's earnings growth. For example, it is possible that the company's management has made some good strategic decisions, or that the company has a low payout ratio.
As a next step, we compared Granite Construction's net income growth with the industry, and pleasingly, we found that the growth seen by the company is higher than the average industry growth of 22%.
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. By doing so, they will have an idea if the stock is headed into clear blue waters or if swampy waters await. One good indicator of expected earnings growth is the P/E ratio which determines the price the market is willing to pay for a stock based on its earnings prospects. So, you may want to check if Granite Construction is trading on a high P/E or a low P/E, relative to its industry.
Is Granite Construction Using Its Retained Earnings Effectively?
Granite Construction's three-year median payout ratio is a pretty moderate 49%, meaning the company retains 51% of its income. So it seems that Granite Construction is reinvesting efficiently in a way that it sees impressive growth in its earnings (discussed above) and pays a dividend that's well covered.
Moreover, Granite Construction is determined to keep sharing its profits with shareholders which we infer from its long history of paying a dividend for at least ten years. Upon studying the latest analysts' consensus data, we found that the company's future payout ratio is expected to drop to 10% over the next three years. Accordingly, the expected drop in the payout ratio explains the expected increase in the company's ROE to 29%, over the same period.
Conclusion
On the whole, we do feel that Granite Construction has some positive attributes. Despite its low rate of return, the fact that the company reinvests a very high portion of its profits into its business, no doubt contributed to its high earnings growth. Having said that, looking at the current analyst estimates, we found that the company's earnings are expected to gain momentum. 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.
