Stock Analysis

Are Strong Financial Prospects The Force That Is Driving The Momentum In Celestica Inc.'s TSE:CLS) Stock?

TSX:CLS
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Celestica (TSE:CLS) has had a great run on the share market with its stock up by a significant 36% over the last three months. Since the market usually pay for a company’s long-term fundamentals, we decided to study the company’s key performance indicators to see if they could be influencing the market. Particularly, we will be paying attention to Celestica's ROE today.

Return on equity or ROE is a key measure used to assess how efficiently a company's management is utilizing the company's capital. 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 Celestica

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 Celestica is:

23% = US$428m ÷ US$1.9b (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2024).

The 'return' is the yearly profit. That means that for every CA$1 worth of shareholders' equity, the company generated CA$0.23 in profit.

What Is The Relationship Between ROE And Earnings Growth?

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

Celestica's Earnings Growth And 23% ROE

Firstly, we acknowledge that Celestica has a significantly high ROE. Secondly, even when compared to the industry average of 15% the company's ROE is quite impressive. As a result, Celestica's exceptional 48% net income growth seen over the past five years, doesn't come as a surprise.

Next, on comparing Celestica's net income growth with the industry, we found that the company's reported growth is similar to the industry average growth rate of 42% over the last few years.

past-earnings-growth
TSX:CLS Past Earnings Growth February 22nd 2025

Earnings growth is a huge factor in stock valuation. 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. What is CLS worth today? The intrinsic value infographic in our free research report helps visualize whether CLS is currently mispriced by the market.

Is Celestica Efficiently Re-investing Its Profits?

Celestica doesn't pay any regular dividends to its shareholders, meaning that the company has been reinvesting all of its profits into the business. This is likely what's driving the high earnings growth number discussed above.

Conclusion

Overall, we are quite pleased with Celestica's performance. Particularly, we like that the company is reinvesting heavily into its business, and at a high rate of return. Unsurprisingly, this has led to an impressive earnings growth. That being so, a study of the latest analyst forecasts show that the company is expected to see a slowdown in its future earnings growth. 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.