Will Weakness in Delignit AG's (ETR:DLX) Stock Prove Temporary Given Strong Fundamentals?

It is hard to get excited after looking at Delignit's (ETR:DLX) recent performance, when its stock has declined 11% over the past three months. However, a closer look at its sound financials might cause you to think again. Given that fundamentals usually drive long-term market outcomes, the company is worth looking at. In this article, we decided to focus on Delignit's 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. 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 Delignit

How Is ROE Calculated?

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 Delignit is:

16% = €4.6m ÷ €29m (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2023).

The 'return' is the amount earned after tax over the last twelve months. So, this means that for every €1 of its shareholder's investments, the company generates a profit of €0.16.

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. 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. Assuming all else is equal, companies that have both a higher return on equity and higher profit retention are usually the ones that have a higher growth rate when compared to companies that don't have the same features.

Delignit's Earnings Growth And 16% ROE

To start with, Delignit's ROE looks acceptable. And on comparing with the industry, we found that the the average industry ROE is similar at 16%. Consequently, this likely laid the ground for the decent growth of 11% seen over the past five years by Delignit.

As a next step, we compared Delignit's net income growth with the industry and found that the company has a similar growth figure when compared with the industry average growth rate of 11% in the same period.

The basis for attaching value to a company is, to a great extent, tied to its earnings growth. The investor should try to establish if the expected growth or decline in earnings, whichever the case may be, is priced in. This then helps them determine if the stock is placed for a bright or bleak future. If you're wondering about Delignit's's valuation, check out this gauge of its price-to-earnings ratio, as compared to its industry.

Is Delignit Making Efficient Use Of Its Profits?

In Delignit's case, its respectable earnings growth can probably be explained by its low three-year median payout ratio of 8.9% (or a retention ratio of 91%), which suggests that the company is investing most of its profits to grow its business.

Besides, Delignit has been paying dividends over a period of nine years. This shows that the company is committed to sharing profits with its shareholders. Upon studying the latest analysts' consensus data, we found that the company's future payout ratio is expected to rise to 13% over the next three years. Accordingly, the expected increase in the payout ratio explains the expected decline in the company's ROE to 12%, over the same period.

Conclusion

Overall, we are quite pleased with Delignit's performance. In particular, it's great to see that the company is investing heavily into its business and along with a high rate of return, that has resulted in a sizeable growth in its earnings. The latest industry analyst forecasts show that the company is expected to maintain its current growth rate. 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.