Are Strong Financial Prospects The Force That Is Driving The Momentum In ALSO Holding AG's VTX:ALSN) Stock?

ALSO Holding's (VTX:ALSN) stock is up by a considerable 11% over the past month. Given the company's impressive performance, we decided to study its financial indicators more closely as a company's financial health over the long-term usually dictates market outcomes. In this article, we decided to focus on ALSO Holding's 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.

See our latest analysis for ALSO Holding

How Do You 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 ALSO Holding is:

15% = €111m ÷ €733m (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2020).

The 'return' is the income the business earned over the last year. One way to conceptualize this is that for each CHF1 of shareholders' capital it has, the company made CHF0.15 in profit.

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. 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.

A Side By Side comparison of ALSO Holding's Earnings Growth And 15% ROE

At first glance, ALSO Holding seems to have a decent ROE. Further, the company's ROE compares quite favorably to the industry average of 11%. This probably laid the ground for ALSO Holding's moderate 9.0% net income growth seen over the past five years.

Next, on comparing with the industry net income growth, we found that ALSO Holding's reported growth was lower than the industry growth of 12% in the same period, which is not something we like to see.

Earnings growth is an important metric to consider when valuing a stock. The investor should try to establish if the expected growth or decline in earnings, whichever the case may be, is priced in. Doing so will help them establish if the stock's future looks promising or ominous. One good indicator of expected earnings growth is the P/E ratio which determines the price the market is willing to pay for a stock based on its earnings prospects. So, you may want to check if ALSO Holding is trading on a high P/E or a low P/E, relative to its industry.

Is ALSO Holding Using Its Retained Earnings Effectively?

ALSO Holding has a healthy combination of a moderate three-year median payout ratio of 36% (or a retention ratio of 64%) 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, ALSO Holding is determined to keep sharing its profits with shareholders which we infer from its long history of nine years of paying a dividend. Based on the latest analysts' estimates, we found that the company's future payout ratio over the next three years is expected to hold steady at 33%. Therefore, the company's future ROE is also not expected to change by much with analysts predicting an ROE of 16%.

Summary

Overall, we are quite pleased with ALSO Holding's performance. Particularly, we like that the company is reinvesting heavily into its business, and at a high rate of return. As a result, the decent growth in its earnings is not surprising. With that said, the latest industry analyst forecasts reveal that the company's earnings are expected to accelerate. 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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