WashTec AG's (ETR:WSU) Financials Are Too Obscure To Link With Current Share Price Momentum: What's In Store For the Stock?

WashTec's (ETR:WSU) stock up by 8.5% over the past three months. However, we decided to study the company's mixed-bag of fundamentals to assess what this could mean for future share prices, as stock prices tend to be aligned with a company's long-term financial performance. Specifically, we decided to study WashTec's ROE in this article.

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. In short, ROE shows the profit each dollar generates with respect to its shareholder investments.

See our latest analysis for WashTec

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 WashTec is:

16% = €16m ÷ €99m (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2021).

The 'return' is the amount earned after tax over the last twelve months. Another way to think of that is that for every €1 worth of equity, the company was able to earn €0.16 in profit.

What Is The Relationship Between ROE And 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. 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 WashTec's Earnings Growth And 16% ROE

To begin with, WashTec seems to have a respectable ROE. On comparing with the average industry ROE of 6.0% the company's ROE looks pretty remarkable. As you might expect, the 11% net income decline reported by WashTec is a bit of a surprise. Therefore, there might be some other aspects that could explain this. Such as, the company pays out a huge portion of its earnings as dividends, or is faced with competitive pressures.

Next, when we compared with the industry, which has shrunk its earnings at a rate of 2.0% in the same period, we still found WashTec's performance to be quite bleak, because the company has been shrinking its earnings faster than the industry.

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). This then helps them determine if the stock is placed for a bright or bleak future. What is WSU worth today? The intrinsic value infographic in our free research report helps visualize whether WSU is currently mispriced by the market.

Is WashTec Using Its Retained Earnings Effectively?

With a three-year median payout ratio as high as 103%,WashTec's shrinking earnings don't come as a surprise as the company is paying a dividend which is beyond its means. Its usually very hard to sustain dividend payments that are higher than reported profits.

Moreover, WashTec has been paying dividends for at least ten years or more suggesting that management must have perceived that the shareholders prefer dividends over earnings growth. Existing analyst estimates suggest that the company's future payout ratio is expected to drop to 82% over the next three years. Accordingly, the expected drop in the payout ratio explains the expected increase in the company's ROE to 32%, over the same period.

Conclusion

On the whole, we feel that the performance shown by WashTec can be open to many interpretations. While the company does have a high rate of return, its low earnings retention is probably what's hampering its earnings growth. With that said, we studied the latest analyst forecasts and found that while the company has shrunk its earnings in the past, analysts expect its earnings to grow 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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