Is GDI Property Group's (ASX:GDI) Recent Stock Performance Influenced By Its Fundamentals In Any Way?

Most readers would already be aware that GDI Property Group's (ASX:GDI) stock increased significantly by 12% over the past three months. As most would know, fundamentals are what usually guide market price movements over the long-term, so we decided to look at the company's key financial indicators today to determine if they have any role to play in the recent price movement. Specifically, we decided to study GDI Property Group's ROE in this article.

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 short, ROE shows the profit each dollar generates with respect to its shareholder investments.

See our latest analysis for GDI Property Group

How Do You 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 GDI Property Group is:

8.5% = AU$67m ÷ AU$783m (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2020).

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$0.09 in profit.

What Has ROE Got To Do With 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 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.

GDI Property Group's Earnings Growth And 8.5% ROE

When you first look at it, GDI Property Group's ROE doesn't look that attractive. However, the fact that the company's ROE is higher than the average industry ROE of 6.6%, is definitely interesting. Particularly, the substantial 35% net income growth seen by GDI Property Group over the past five years is impressive . That being said, the company does have a slightly low ROE to begin with, just that it is higher than the industry average. So, there might well be other reasons for the earnings to grow. Such as- high earnings retention or the company belonging to a high growth industry.

Next, on comparing with the industry net income growth, we found that GDI Property Group's growth is quite high when compared to the industry average growth of 8.5% in the same period, which is great to see.

Earnings growth is a huge factor in stock valuation. What investors need to determine next is if the expected earnings growth, or the lack of it, is already built into the share price. 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 GDI Property Group is trading on a high P/E or a low P/E, relative to its industry.

Is GDI Property Group Efficiently Re-investing Its Profits?

GDI Property Group has a very high three-year median payout ratio of 98%. This means that it has only 2.1% of its income left to reinvest into its business. However, it's not unusual to see a REIT with such a high payout ratio mainly due to statutory requirements. In spite of this, the company was able to grow its earnings significantly, as we saw above.

Besides, GDI Property Group has been paying dividends over a period of six years. This shows that the company is committed to sharing profits with its shareholders. Based on the latest analysts' estimates, we found that the company's future payout ratio over the next three years is expected to hold steady at 83%. Regardless, GDI Property Group's ROE is speculated to decline to 6.7% despite there being no anticipated change in its payout ratio.

Summary

Overall, we feel that GDI Property Group certainly does have some positive factors to consider. Specifically, its respectable ROE which likely led to the considerable growth in earnings. Yet, the company is retaining a small portion of its profits. Which means that the company has been able to grow its earnings in spite of it, so that's not too bad. 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 company's future earnings growth forecasts take a look at this free report on analyst forecasts for the company to find out more.

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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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