Are Raj Television Network Limited's (NSE:RAJTV) Fundamentals Good Enough to Warrant Buying Given The Stock's Recent Weakness?

Raj Television Network (NSE:RAJTV) has had a rough month with its share price down 14%. But if you pay close attention, you might find that its key financial indicators look quite decent, which could mean that the stock could potentially rise in the long-term given how markets usually reward more resilient long-term fundamentals. In this article, we decided to focus on Raj Television Network'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. In other words, it is a profitability ratio which measures the rate of return on the capital provided by the company's shareholders.

Check out our latest analysis for Raj Television Network

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 Raj Television Network is:

4.7% = ₹67m ÷ ₹1.4b (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2019).

The 'return' is the income the business earned over the last year. So, this means that for every ₹1 of its shareholder's investments, the company generates a profit of ₹0.05.

What Has ROE Got To Do With Earnings Growth?

Thus far, we have learnt 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 everything else remains unchanged, the higher the ROE and profit retention, the higher the growth rate of a company compared to companies that don't necessarily bear these characteristics.

A Side By Side comparison of Raj Television Network's Earnings Growth And 4.7% ROE

It is hard to argue that Raj Television Network's ROE is much good in and of itself. Not just that, even compared to the industry average of 12%, the company's ROE is entirely unremarkable. However, the moderate 7.7% net income growth seen by Raj Television Network over the past five years is definitely a positive. We believe that there might be other aspects that are positively influencing the company's earnings growth. Such as - high earnings retention or an efficient management in place.

As a next step, we compared Raj Television Network's net income growth with the industry and found that the company has a similar growth figure when compared with the industry average growth rate of 7.7% in the same period.

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. Is Raj Television Network fairly valued compared to other companies? These 3 valuation measures might help you decide.

Is Raj Television Network Using Its Retained Earnings Effectively?

In Raj Television Network's case, its respectable earnings growth can probably be explained by its low three-year median payout ratio of 9.6% (or a retention ratio of 90%), which suggests that the company is investing most of its profits to grow its business.

Besides, Raj Television Network has been paying dividends over a period of eight years. This shows that the company is committed to sharing profits with its shareholders.

Conclusion

Overall, we feel that Raj Television Network certainly does have some positive factors to consider. Despite its low rate of return, the fact that the company reinvests a very high portion of its profits into its business, no doubt contributed to its high earnings growth. While we won't completely dismiss the company, what we would do, is try to ascertain how risky the business is to make a more informed decision around the company. You can see the 2 risks we have identified for Raj Television Network by visiting our risks dashboard for free on our platform here.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. 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. Thank you for reading.