CCL Industries Inc.'s (TSE:CCL.B) Fundamentals Look Pretty Strong: Could The Market Be Wrong About The Stock?

With its stock down 8.7% over the past three months, it is easy to disregard CCL Industries (TSE:CCL.B). 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 CCL Industries' ROE.

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 CCL Industries

How Is ROE Calculated?

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 CCL Industries is:

14% = CA$702m ÷ CA$5.1b (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2024).

The 'return' is the amount earned after tax over the last twelve months. One way to conceptualize this is that for each CA$1 of shareholders' capital it has, the company made CA$0.14 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. We now need to evaluate how much profit the company reinvests or "retains" for future growth which then gives us an idea about the growth potential of the company. 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.

CCL Industries' Earnings Growth And 14% ROE

To start with, CCL Industries' ROE looks acceptable. Further, the company's ROE compares quite favorably to the industry average of 10%. This probably laid the ground for CCL Industries' moderate 6.2% net income growth seen over the past five years.

Next, on comparing with the industry net income growth, we found that CCL Industries' growth is quite high when compared to the industry average growth of 3.9% in the same period, which is great to see.

Earnings growth is an important metric to consider when valuing a stock. 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. If you're wondering about CCL Industries''s valuation, check out this gauge of its price-to-earnings ratio, as compared to its industry.

Is CCL Industries Efficiently Re-investing Its Profits?

CCL Industries has a healthy combination of a moderate three-year median payout ratio of 27% (or a retention ratio of 73%) and a respectable amount of growth in earnings as we saw above, meaning that the company has been making efficient use of its profits.

Moreover, CCL Industries 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. Upon studying the latest analysts' consensus data, we found that the company is expected to keep paying out approximately 24% of its profits over the next three years. Accordingly, forecasts suggest that CCL Industries' future ROE will be 15% which is again, similar to the current ROE.

Conclusion

On the whole, we feel that CCL Industries' performance has been quite good. Specifically, we like that the company is reinvesting a huge chunk of its profits at a high rate of return. This of course has caused the company to see substantial growth in its earnings. 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. 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.