Is Apex Frozen Foods Limited's (NSE:APEX) Recent Performance Tethered To Its Attractive Financial Prospects?

Most readers would already know that Apex Frozen Foods' (NSE:APEX) stock increased by 3.9% over the past three months. Since the market usually pay for a company’s long-term financial health, we decided to study the company’s fundamentals to see if they could be influencing the market. In this article, we decided to focus on Apex Frozen Foods' ROE.

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. Simply put, it is used to assess the profitability of a company in relation to its equity capital.

View our latest analysis for Apex Frozen Foods

How Is ROE Calculated?

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 Apex Frozen Foods is:

15% = ₹608m ÷ ₹4.0b (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2020).

The 'return' is the profit over the last twelve months. Another way to think of that is that for every ₹1 worth of equity, the company was able to earn ₹0.15 in profit.

What Has ROE Got To Do With Earnings Growth?

So far, we've learned that ROE is a measure of a company's profitability. 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. 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 Apex Frozen Foods' Earnings Growth And 15% ROE

To start with, Apex Frozen Foods' ROE looks acceptable. On comparing with the average industry ROE of 9.8% the company's ROE looks pretty remarkable. This probably laid the ground for Apex Frozen Foods' moderate 12% net income growth seen over the past five years.

We then compared Apex Frozen Foods' net income growth with the industry and found that the company's growth figure is lower than the average industry growth rate of 18% in the same period, which is a bit concerning.

Earnings growth is a huge factor in stock valuation. The investor should try to establish if the expected growth or decline in earnings, whichever the case may be, is priced in. This then helps them determine if the stock is placed for a bright or bleak future. One good indicator of expected earnings growth is the P/E ratio which determines the price the market is willing to pay for a stock based on its earnings prospects. So, you may want to check if Apex Frozen Foods is trading on a high P/E or a low P/E, relative to its industry.

Is Apex Frozen Foods Efficiently Re-investing Its Profits?

Apex Frozen Foods has a low three-year median payout ratio of 8.7%, meaning that the company retains the remaining 91% of its profits. This suggests that the management is reinvesting most of the profits to grow the business.

While Apex Frozen Foods has been growing its earnings, it only recently started to pay dividends which likely means that the company decided to impress new and existing shareholders with a dividend.

Summary

Overall, we are quite pleased with Apex Frozen Foods' performance. In particular, it's great to see that the company is investing heavily into its business and along with a high rate of return, that has resulted in a respectable growth in its earnings. If the company continues to grow its earnings the way it has, that could have a positive impact on its share price given how earnings per share influence long-term share prices. Let's not forget, business risk is also one of the factors that affects the price of the stock. So this is also an important area that investors need to pay attention to before making a decision on any business. You can see the 1 risk we have identified for Apex Frozen Foods 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.
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