JHSF Participações S.A. (BVMF:JHSF3) Stock Has Shown Weakness Lately But Financials Look Strong: Should Prospective Shareholders Make The Leap?

It is hard to get excited after looking at JHSF Participações' (BVMF:JHSF3) recent performance, when its stock has declined 10.0% over the past month. But if you pay close attention, you might gather that its strong financials could mean that the stock could potentially see an increase in value in the long-term, given how markets usually reward companies with good financial health. In this article, we decided to focus on JHSF Participações' ROE.

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. Simply put, it is used to assess the profitability of a company in relation to its equity capital.

See our latest analysis for JHSF Participações

How Is ROE Calculated?

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 JHSF Participações is:

17% = R$662m ÷ R$3.9b (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2020).

The 'return' is the profit over the last twelve months. That means that for every R$1 worth of shareholders' equity, the company generated R$0.17 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. 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. 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.

JHSF Participações' Earnings Growth And 17% ROE

When you first look at it, JHSF Participações' ROE doesn't look that attractive. However, the fact that the company's ROE is higher than the average industry ROE of 5.9%, is definitely interesting. Even more so after seeing JHSF Participações' exceptional 53% 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. So, there might well be other reasons for the earnings to grow. E.g the company has a low payout ratio or could belong to a high growth industry.

As a next step, we compared JHSF Participações' 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 23%.

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). By doing so, they will have an idea if the stock is headed into clear blue waters or if swampy waters await. Has the market priced in the future outlook for JHSF3? You can find out in our latest intrinsic value infographic research report.

Is JHSF Participações Making Efficient Use Of Its Profits?

JHSF Participações 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

Overall, we are quite pleased with JHSF Participações' performance. In particular, it's great to see that the company has seen significant growth in its earnings backed by a respectable ROE and a high reinvestment rate. That being so, according to the latest industry analyst forecasts, the company's earnings are expected to shrink in the future. 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. 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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