Yahoo Finance Can Mixed Fundamentals Have A Negative Impact on Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. KGaA (ETR:FME) Current Share Price Momentum?
Fresenius Medical Care KGaA (ETR:FME) has had a great run on the share market with its stock up by a significant 25% over the last three months. However, we wonder if the company's inconsistent financials would have any adverse impact on the current share price momentum. In this article, we decided to focus on Fresenius Medical Care KGaA's ROE.
Return on Equity or ROE is a test of how effectively a company is growing its value and managing investors’ money. In other words, it is a profitability ratio which measures the rate of return on the capital provided by the company's shareholders.
See our latest analysis for Fresenius Medical Care KGaA
How Is ROE Calculated?
The formula for ROE is:
Return on Equity = Net Profit (from continuing operations) ÷ Shareholders' Equity
So, based on the above formula, the ROE for Fresenius Medical Care KGaA is:
6.0% = €1.0b ÷ €17b (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2022).
The 'return' refers to a company's earnings over the last year. Another way to think of that is that for every €1 worth of equity, the company was able to earn €0.06 in profit.
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. 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.
Fresenius Medical Care KGaA's Earnings Growth And 6.0% ROE
When you first look at it, Fresenius Medical Care KGaA's ROE doesn't look that attractive. However, given that the company's ROE is similar to the average industry ROE of 6.6%, we may spare it some thought. But Fresenius Medical Care KGaA saw a five year net income decline of 14% over the past five years. Remember, the company's ROE is a bit low to begin with. Therefore, the decline in earnings could also be the result of this.
That being said, we compared Fresenius Medical Care KGaA's performance with the industry and were concerned when we found that while the company has shrunk its earnings, the industry has grown its earnings at a rate of 2.8% in the same period.
Earnings growth is a huge factor in stock valuation. It’s important for an investor to know whether the market has priced in the company's expected earnings growth (or decline). This then helps them determine if the stock is placed for a bright or bleak future. What is FME worth today? The intrinsic value infographic in our free research report helps visualize whether FME is currently mispriced by the market.
Is Fresenius Medical Care KGaA Using Its Retained Earnings Effectively?
Looking at its three-year median payout ratio of 35% (or a retention ratio of 65%) which is pretty normal, Fresenius Medical Care KGaA's declining earnings is rather baffling as one would expect to see a fair bit of growth when a company is retaining a good portion of its profits. So there could be some other explanations in that regard. For instance, the company's business may be deteriorating.
In addition, Fresenius Medical Care KGaA has been paying dividends over a period of at least ten years suggesting that keeping up dividend payments is way more important to the management even if it comes at the cost of business growth. Upon studying the latest analysts' consensus data, we found that the company is expected to keep paying out approximately 35% of its profits over the next three years. However, Fresenius Medical Care KGaA's ROE is predicted to rise to 8.4% despite there being no anticipated change in its payout ratio.
Conclusion
In total, we're a bit ambivalent about Fresenius Medical Care KGaA's performance. Even though it appears to be retaining most of its profits, given the low ROE, investors may not be benefitting from all that reinvestment after all. The low earnings growth suggests our theory correct. With that said, we studied the latest analyst forecasts and found that while the company has shrunk its earnings in the past, analysts expect its earnings to grow in the future. 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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