Yahoo Finance Genus plc's (LON:GNS) Financials Are Too Obscure To Link With Current Share Price Momentum: What's In Store For the Stock?
Genus (LON:GNS) has had a great run on the share market with its stock up by a significant 27% over the last three months. But the company's key financial indicators appear to be differing across the board and that makes us question whether or not the company's current share price momentum can be maintained. Particularly, we will be paying attention to Genus' 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.
See our latest analysis for Genus
How To Calculate Return On Equity?
ROE 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 Genus is:
6.4% = UK£37m ÷ UK£572m (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2022).
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 £0.06.
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. 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 Genus' Earnings Growth And 6.4% ROE
On the face of it, Genus' ROE is not much to talk about. Next, when compared to the average industry ROE of 18%, the company's ROE leaves us feeling even less enthusiastic. Thus, the low net income growth of 2.9% seen by Genus over the past five years could probably be the result of the low ROE.
As a next step, we compared Genus' net income growth with the industry and were disappointed to see that the company's growth is lower than the industry average growth of 6.8% in the same period.
The basis for attaching value to a company is, to a great extent, tied to its earnings growth. The investor should try to establish if the expected growth or decline in earnings, whichever the case may be, is priced in. This then helps them determine if the stock is placed for a bright or bleak future. 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 Genus is trading on a high P/E or a low P/E, relative to its industry.
Is Genus Making Efficient Use Of Its Profits?
Despite having a moderate three-year median payout ratio of 50% (implying that the company retains the remaining 50% of its income), Genus' earnings growth was quite low. So there might be other factors at play here which could potentially be hampering growth. For example, the business has faced some headwinds.
Additionally, Genus 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. Upon studying the latest analysts' consensus data, we found that the company's future payout ratio is expected to drop to 34% over the next three years. As a result, the expected drop in Genus' payout ratio explains the anticipated rise in the company's future ROE to 11%, over the same period.
Conclusion
In total, we're a bit ambivalent about Genus' performance. While the company does have a high rate of profit retention, its low rate of return is probably hampering its earnings growth. 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.
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