Will Weakness in Grupo Mateus S.A.'s (BVMF:GMAT3) Stock Prove Temporary Given Strong Fundamentals?

Grupo Mateus (BVMF:GMAT3) has had a rough month with its share price down 11%. However, stock prices are usually driven by a company’s financial performance over the long term, which in this case looks quite promising. In this article, we decided to focus on Grupo Mateus' ROE.

Return on Equity or ROE is a test of how effectively a company is growing its value and managing investors’ money. In other words, it is a profitability ratio which measures the rate of return on the capital provided by the company's shareholders.

View our latest analysis for Grupo Mateus

How To Calculate Return On Equity?

Return on equity 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 Grupo Mateus is:

14% = R$1.2b ÷ R$8.8b (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2023).

The 'return' is the yearly profit. So, this means that for every R$1 of its shareholder's investments, the company generates a profit of R$0.14.

What Has ROE Got To Do With 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. 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 Grupo Mateus' Earnings Growth And 14% ROE

When you first look at it, Grupo Mateus' ROE doesn't look that attractive. However, the fact that the its ROE is quite higher to the industry average of 11% doesn't go unnoticed by us. Especially when you consider Grupo Mateus' exceptional 26% net income growth over the past five years. That being said, the company does have a slightly low ROE to begin with, just that it is higher than the industry average. Hence, there might be some other aspects that are causing earnings to grow. Such as- high earnings retention or the company belonging to a high growth industry.

We then compared Grupo Mateus' net income growth with the industry and we're pleased to see that the company's growth figure is higher when compared with the industry which has a growth rate of 9.5% in the same 5-year period.

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). This then helps them determine if the stock is placed for a bright or bleak future. What is GMAT3 worth today? The intrinsic value infographic in our free research report helps visualize whether GMAT3 is currently mispriced by the market.

Is Grupo Mateus Using Its Retained Earnings Effectively?

Grupo Mateus doesn't pay any regular dividends currently which essentially means that it has been reinvesting all of its profits into the business. This definitely contributes to the high earnings growth number that we discussed above.

Conclusion

In total, we are pretty happy with Grupo Mateus' performance. Specifically, we like that it has been reinvesting a high portion of its profits at a moderate rate of return, resulting in earnings expansion. Having said that, the company's earnings growth is expected to slow down, as forecasted in the current analyst estimates. 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.