Are Centuria Capital Group's (ASX:CNI) Mixed Financials Driving The Negative Sentiment?

Centuria Capital Group (ASX:CNI) has had a rough week with its share price down 5.7%. We, however decided to study the company's financials to determine if they have got anything to do with the price decline. Stock prices are usually driven by a company’s financial performance over the long term, and therefore we decided to pay more attention to the company's financial performance. Specifically, we decided to study Centuria Capital Group's ROE in this article.

Return on equity or ROE is a key measure used to assess how efficiently a company's management is utilizing the company's capital. Simply put, it is used to assess the profitability of a company in relation to its equity capital.

Check out our latest analysis for Centuria Capital Group

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 Centuria Capital Group is:

9.5% = AU$150m ÷ AU$1.6b (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2021).

The 'return' is the yearly profit. One way to conceptualize this is that for each A$1 of shareholders' capital it has, the company made A$0.10 in profit.

Why Is ROE Important For Earnings Growth?

Thus far, we have learned that ROE measures how efficiently a company is generating its profits. Based on how much of its profits the company chooses to reinvest or "retain", we are then able to evaluate a company's future ability to generate profits. 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.

A Side By Side comparison of Centuria Capital Group's Earnings Growth And 9.5% ROE

At first glance, Centuria Capital Group's ROE doesn't look very promising. A quick further study shows that the company's ROE doesn't compare favorably to the industry average of 13% either. However, the moderate 18% net income growth seen by Centuria Capital Group over the past five years is definitely a positive. So, there might be other aspects that are positively influencing the company's earnings growth. For instance, the company has a low payout ratio or is being managed efficiently.

When you consider the fact that the industry earnings have shrunk at a rate of 0.3% in the same period, the company's net income growth is pretty remarkable.

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. Is CNI fairly valued? This infographic on the company's intrinsic value has everything you need to know.

Is Centuria Capital Group Efficiently Re-investing Its Profits?

Centuria Capital Group has a very high three-year median payout ratio of 119% suggesting that the company's shareholders are getting paid from more than just the company's earnings. Still the company's earnings have grown respectably. Although, the high payout ratio is certainly something we would keep an eye on if the company is not able to keep up its growth, or if business deteriorates. Our risks dashboard should have the 2 risks we have identified for Centuria Capital Group.

Additionally, Centuria Capital Group has paid dividends over a period of at least ten years which means that the company is pretty serious about sharing its profits with shareholders. Our latest analyst data shows that the future payout ratio of the company is expected to drop to 72% over the next three years. Still forecasts suggest that Centuria Capital Group's future ROE will drop to 7.5% even though the the company's payout ratio is expected to decrease. This suggests that there could be other factors could driving the anticipated decline in the company's ROE.

Conclusion

On the whole, we feel that the performance shown by Centuria Capital Group can be open to many interpretations. While the company has posted impressive earnings growth, its poor ROE and low earnings retention makes us doubtful if that growth could continue, if by any chance the business is faced with any sort of risk. On studying current analyst estimates, we found that analysts expect the company to continue its recent growth streak. Are these analysts expectations based on the broad expectations for the industry, or on the company's fundamentals? Click here to be taken to our analyst's forecasts page 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.