Yahoo Finance Is Himax Technologies, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:HIMX) Latest Stock Performance A Reflection Of Its Financial Health?
Himax Technologies (NASDAQ:HIMX) has had a great run on the share market with its stock up by a significant 23% over the last three months. 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 Himax Technologies' 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.
View our latest analysis for Himax Technologies
How Do You Calculate Return On Equity?
Return on equity 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 Himax Technologies is:
39% = US$335m ÷ US$849m (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2022).
The 'return' is the income the business earned over the last year. One way to conceptualize this is that for each $1 of shareholders' capital it has, the company made $0.39 in profit.
Why Is ROE Important For Earnings Growth?
Thus far, we have learned that ROE measures how efficiently a company is generating its profits. 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.
Himax Technologies' Earnings Growth And 39% ROE
Firstly, we acknowledge that Himax Technologies has a significantly high ROE. Second, a comparison with the average ROE reported by the industry of 19% also doesn't go unnoticed by us. As a result, Himax Technologies' exceptional 72% net income growth seen over the past five years, doesn't come as a surprise.
Next, on comparing with the industry net income growth, we found that Himax Technologies' growth is quite high when compared to the industry average growth of 28% in the same period, which is great to see.
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. Has the market priced in the future outlook for HIMX? You can find out in our latest intrinsic value infographic research report.
Is Himax Technologies Efficiently Re-investing Its Profits?
The high three-year median payout ratio of 75% (implying that it keeps only 25% of profits) for Himax Technologies suggests that the company's growth wasn't really hampered despite it returning most of the earnings to its shareholders.
Besides, Himax Technologies has been paying dividends for at least ten years or more. This shows that the company is committed to sharing profits with its shareholders. Upon studying the latest analysts' consensus data, we found that the company's future payout ratio is expected to rise to 186% over the next three years. Consequently, the higher expected payout ratio explains the decline in the company's expected ROE (to 15%) over the same period.
Conclusion
Overall, we are quite pleased with Himax Technologies' performance. In particular, its high ROE is quite noteworthy and also the probable explanation behind its considerable earnings growth. Yet, the company is retaining a small portion of its profits. Which means that the company has been able to grow its earnings in spite of it, so that's not too bad. That being so, according to the latest industry analyst forecasts, the company's earnings are expected to shrink in the future. 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.
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