Yahoo Finance The Sage Group plc's (LON:SGE) Stock Is Going Strong: Have Financials A Role To Play?
Most readers would already be aware that Sage Group's (LON:SGE) stock increased significantly by 13% over the past three months. Given that stock prices are usually aligned with a company's financial performance in the long-term, we decided to study its financial indicators more closely to see if they had a hand to play in the recent price move. In this article, we decided to focus on Sage Group's ROE.
ROE or return on equity is a useful tool to assess how effectively a company can generate returns on the investment it received from its shareholders. Simply put, it is used to assess the profitability of a company in relation to its equity capital.
View our latest analysis for Sage Group
How Is ROE Calculated?
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 Sage Group is:
24% = UK£291m ÷ UK£1.2b (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2022).
The 'return' is the income the business earned over the last year. Another way to think of that is that for every £1 worth of equity, the company was able to earn £0.24 in profit.
Why Is ROE Important For 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.
Sage Group's Earnings Growth And 24% ROE
Firstly, we acknowledge that Sage Group has a significantly high ROE. Additionally, the company's ROE is higher compared to the industry average of 7.5% which is quite remarkable. Yet, Sage Group has posted measly growth of 2.4% over the past five years. This is interesting as the high returns should mean that the company has the ability to generate high growth but for some reason, it hasn't been able to do so. We reckon that a low growth, when returns are quite high could be the result of certain circumstances like low earnings retention or or poor allocation of capital.
As a next step, we compared Sage Group's net income growth with the industry and were disappointed to see that the company's growth is lower than the industry average growth of 9.1% in the same period.
Earnings growth is an important metric to consider when valuing a stock. The investor should try to establish if the expected growth or decline in earnings, whichever the case may be, is priced in. By doing so, they will have an idea if the stock is headed into clear blue waters or if swampy waters await. If you're wondering about Sage Group's's valuation, check out this gauge of its price-to-earnings ratio, as compared to its industry.
Is Sage Group Using Its Retained Earnings Effectively?
The high three-year median payout ratio of 64% (that is, the company retains only 36% of its income) over the past three years for Sage Group suggests that the company's earnings growth was lower as a result of paying out a majority of its earnings.
Moreover, Sage Group has been paying dividends for at least ten years or more suggesting that management must have perceived that the shareholders prefer dividends over earnings growth. Upon studying the latest analysts' consensus data, we found that the company is expected to keep paying out approximately 57% of its profits over the next three years. As a result, Sage Group's ROE is not expected to change by much either, which we inferred from the analyst estimate of 23% for future ROE.
Conclusion
On the whole, we do feel that Sage Group has some positive attributes. Yet, the low earnings growth is a bit concerning, especially given that the company has a high rate of return. Investors could have benefitted from the high ROE, had the company been reinvesting more of its earnings. As discussed earlier, the company is retaining a small portion of its profits. 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 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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