Could The Market Be Wrong About bioMérieux S.A. (EPA:BIM) Given Its Attractive Financial Prospects?

It is hard to get excited after looking at bioMérieux's (EPA:BIM) recent performance, when its stock has declined 14% over the past three months. However, stock prices are usually driven by a company’s financial performance over the long term, which in this case looks quite promising. In this article, we decided to focus on bioMérieux'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. Put another way, it reveals the company's success at turning shareholder investments into profits.

Check out our latest analysis for bioMérieux

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 bioMérieux is:

13% = €303m ÷ €2.4b (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2020).

The 'return' is the profit over the last twelve months. One way to conceptualize this is that for each €1 of shareholders' capital it has, the company made €0.13 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. 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.

bioMérieux's Earnings Growth And 13% ROE

To start with, bioMérieux's ROE looks acceptable. Especially when compared to the industry average of 9.9% the company's ROE looks pretty impressive. This certainly adds some context to bioMérieux's decent 18% net income growth seen over the past five years.

We then compared bioMérieux's net income growth with the industry and we're pleased to see that the company's growth figure is higher when compared with the industry which has a growth rate of 2.3% in the same period.

Earnings growth is a huge factor in stock valuation. 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 bioMérieux's's valuation, check out this gauge of its price-to-earnings ratio, as compared to its industry.

Is bioMérieux Making Efficient Use Of Its Profits?

bioMérieux's three-year median payout ratio to shareholders is 16% (implying that it retains 84% of its income), which is on the lower side, so it seems like the management is reinvesting profits heavily to grow its business.

Additionally, bioMérieux has paid dividends over a period of at least ten years which means that the company is pretty serious about sharing its profits with shareholders. Our latest analyst data shows that the future payout ratio of the company over the next three years is expected to be approximately 16%. Accordingly, forecasts suggest that bioMérieux's future ROE will be 14% which is again, similar to the current ROE.

Summary

In total, we are pretty happy with bioMérieux'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. 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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