Declining Stock and Solid Fundamentals: Is The Market Wrong About Robertet SA (EPA:RBT)?

It is hard to get excited after looking at Robertet's (EPA:RBT) recent performance, when its stock has declined 7.6% over the past month. 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 Robertet'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 short, ROE shows the profit each dollar generates with respect to its shareholder investments.

Check out our latest analysis for Robertet

How To Calculate Return On Equity?

The formula for ROE is:

Return on Equity = Net Profit (from continuing operations) ÷ Shareholders' Equity

So, based on the above formula, the ROE for Robertet is:

11% = €54m ÷ €469m (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2020).

The 'return' is the amount earned after tax over the last twelve months. One way to conceptualize this is that for each €1 of shareholders' capital it has, the company made €0.11 in profit.

What Has ROE Got To Do With 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 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.

Robertet's Earnings Growth And 11% ROE

At first glance, Robertet seems to have a decent ROE. On comparing with the average industry ROE of 4.8% the company's ROE looks pretty remarkable. This probably laid the ground for Robertet's moderate 9.7% net income growth seen over the past five years.

As a next step, we compared Robertet's net income growth with the industry, and pleasingly, we found that the growth seen by the company is higher than the average industry growth of 4.8%.

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. This then helps them determine if the stock is placed for a bright or bleak future. Is Robertet fairly valued compared to other companies? These 3 valuation measures might help you decide.

Is Robertet Using Its Retained Earnings Effectively?

Robertet's three-year median payout ratio to shareholders is 24% (implying that it retains 76% of its income), which is on the lower side, so it seems like the management is reinvesting profits heavily to grow its business.

Besides, Robertet has been paying dividends for at least ten years or more. This shows that the company is committed to sharing profits with its shareholders.

Summary

Overall, we are quite pleased with Robertet's performance. Specifically, we like that the company is reinvesting a huge chunk of its profits at a high rate of return. This of course has caused the company to see substantial 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 latest analysts predictions for the company, check out this visualization of analyst forecasts 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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