Is Petroreconcavo S.A.'s (BVMF:RECV3) Recent Stock Performance Influenced By Its Fundamentals In Any Way?

Petroreconcavo's (BVMF:RECV3) stock is up by a considerable 18% over the past month. Given that stock prices are usually aligned with a company's financial performance in the long-term, we decided to study its financial indicators more closely to see if they had a hand to play in the recent price move. Specifically, we decided to study Petroreconcavo's ROE in this article.

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.

Check out our latest analysis for Petroreconcavo

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 Petroreconcavo is:

9.1% = R$168m ÷ R$1.8b (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2021).

The 'return' is the income the business earned over the last year. So, this means that for every R$1 of its shareholder's investments, the company generates a profit of R$0.09.

What Is The Relationship Between ROE And Earnings Growth?

So far, we've learned that ROE is a measure of a company's profitability. 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.

A Side By Side comparison of Petroreconcavo's Earnings Growth And 9.1% ROE

It is hard to argue that Petroreconcavo's ROE is much good in and of itself. Not just that, even compared to the industry average of 21%, the company's ROE is entirely unremarkable. In spite of this, Petroreconcavo was able to grow its net income considerably, at a rate of 28% in the last five years. Therefore, there could be other reasons behind this growth. For example, it is possible that the company's management has made some good strategic decisions, or that the company has a low payout ratio.

As a next step, we compared Petroreconcavo's net income growth with the industry and found that the company has a similar growth figure when compared with the industry average growth rate of 25% in the same period.

The basis for attaching value to a company is, to a great extent, tied to its earnings growth. 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. Is Petroreconcavo fairly valued compared to other companies? These 3 valuation measures might help you decide.

Is Petroreconcavo Efficiently Re-investing Its Profits?

Petroreconcavo doesn't pay any dividend 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

On the whole, we do feel that Petroreconcavo has some positive attributes. Even in spite of the low rate of return, the company has posted impressive earnings growth as a result of reinvesting heavily into its business. While we won't completely dismiss the company, what we would do, is try to ascertain how risky the business is to make a more informed decision around the company. You can see the 1 risk we have identified for Petroreconcavo 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. 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.