Objective Corporation Limited's (ASX:OCL) Stock's On An Uptrend: Are Strong Financials Guiding The Market?

Most readers would already be aware that Objective's (ASX:OCL) stock increased significantly by 20% over the past three months. Given the company's impressive performance, we decided to study its financial indicators more closely as a company's financial health over the long-term usually dictates market outcomes. Specifically, we decided to study Objective's ROE in this article.

Return on Equity or ROE is a test of how effectively a company is growing its value and managing investors’ money. Put another way, it reveals the company's success at turning shareholder investments into profits.

View our latest analysis for Objective

How Do You Calculate Return On Equity?

The formula for return on equity is:

Return on Equity = Net Profit (from continuing operations) ÷ Shareholders' Equity

So, based on the above formula, the ROE for Objective is:

34% = AU$31m ÷ AU$92m (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2024).

The 'return' is the income the business earned over the last year. Another way to think of that is that for every A$1 worth of equity, the company was able to earn A$0.34 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. 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.

Objective's Earnings Growth And 34% ROE

First thing first, we like that Objective has an impressive ROE. Secondly, even when compared to the industry average of 8.0% the company's ROE is quite impressive. Under the circumstances, Objective's considerable five year net income growth of 23% was to be expected.

As a next step, we compared Objective's net income growth with the industry, and pleasingly, we found that the growth seen by the company is higher than the average industry growth of 17%.

Earnings growth is an important metric to consider when valuing a stock. 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 Objective's's valuation, check out this gauge of its price-to-earnings ratio, as compared to its industry.

Is Objective Efficiently Re-investing Its Profits?

The high three-year median payout ratio of 50% (implying that it keeps only 50% of profits) for Objective suggests that the company's growth wasn't really hampered despite it returning most of the earnings to its shareholders.

Moreover, Objective is determined to keep sharing its profits with shareholders which we infer from its long history of paying a dividend for at least ten years. Our latest analyst data shows that the future payout ratio of the company over the next three years is expected to be approximately 48%. Therefore, the company's future ROE is also not expected to change by much with analysts predicting an ROE of 29%.

Summary

On the whole, we feel that Objective's performance has been quite good. In particular, its high ROE is quite noteworthy and also the probable explanation behind its considerable earnings growth. 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. With that said, the latest industry analyst forecasts reveal that the company's earnings growth is expected to slow down. 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.