Yahoo Finance Should Weakness in Northcoders Group PLC's (LON:CODE) Stock Be Seen As A Sign That Market Will Correct The Share Price Given Decent Financials?
With its stock down 25% over the past three months, it is easy to disregard Northcoders Group (LON:CODE). However, stock prices are usually driven by a company’s financials over the long term, which in this case look pretty respectable. In this article, we decided to focus on Northcoders Group'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 Northcoders Group
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 Northcoders Group is:
7.7% = UK£360k ÷ UK£4.6m (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2022).
The 'return' refers to a company's earnings over the last year. One way to conceptualize this is that for each £1 of shareholders' capital it has, the company made £0.08 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. 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. Generally speaking, other things being equal, firms with a high return on equity and profit retention, have a higher growth rate than firms that don’t share these attributes.
Northcoders Group's Earnings Growth And 7.7% ROE
At first glance, Northcoders Group's ROE doesn't look very promising. However, the fact that the company's ROE is higher than the average industry ROE of 6.4%, is definitely interesting. Still, Northcoders Group has seen a flat net income growth over the past five years. Bear in mind, the company does have a slightly low ROE. It is just that the industry ROE is lower. Hence, this goes some way in explaining the flat earnings growth.
Next, on comparing with the industry net income growth, we found that the industry grew its earnings by 13% over the last few years.
The basis for attaching value to a company is, to a great extent, tied to its earnings growth. It’s important for an investor to know whether the market has priced in the company's expected earnings growth (or decline). 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 Northcoders Group's's valuation, check out this gauge of its price-to-earnings ratio, as compared to its industry.
Is Northcoders Group Using Its Retained Earnings Effectively?
Northcoders Group doesn't pay any dividend, meaning that potentially all of its profits are being reinvested in the business. However, this doesn't explain why the company hasn't seen any growth. So there might be other factors at play here which could potentially be hampering growth. For example, the business has faced some headwinds.
Conclusion
Overall, we feel that Northcoders Group certainly does have some positive factors to consider. However, while the company does have a decent ROE and a high profit retention, its earnings growth number is quite disappointing. This suggests that there might be some external threat to the business, that's hampering growth. Until now, we have only just grazed the surface of the company's past performance by looking at the company's fundamentals. You can do your own research on Northcoders Group and see how it has performed in the past by looking at this FREE detailed graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flows.
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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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