Will Weakness in Robertet SA's (EPA:RBT) Stock Prove Temporary Given Strong Fundamentals?

Robertet (EPA:RBT) has had a rough week with its share price down 2.9%. However, stock prices are usually driven by a company’s financial performance over the long term, which in this case looks quite promising. Specifically, we decided to study Robertet's ROE in this article.

Return on Equity or ROE is a test of how effectively a company is growing its value and managing investors’ money. In short, ROE shows the profit each dollar generates with respect to its shareholder investments.

Check out our latest analysis for Robertet

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 Robertet is:

16% = €71m ÷ €436m (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2023).

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 €0.16 in profit.

Why Is ROE Important For 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 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.

Robertet's Earnings Growth And 16% ROE

At first glance, Robertet seems to have a decent ROE. On comparing with the average industry ROE of 10% the company's ROE looks pretty remarkable. This certainly adds some context to Robertet's decent 9.8% net income growth seen over the past five years.

As a next step, we compared Robertet'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 10% in the same period.

Earnings growth is a huge factor in stock valuation. The investor should try to establish if the expected growth or decline in earnings, whichever the case may be, is priced in. By doing so, they will have an idea if the stock is headed into clear blue waters or if swampy waters await. Has the market priced in the future outlook for RBT? You can find out in our latest intrinsic value infographic research report.

Is Robertet Efficiently Re-investing Its Profits?

Robertet has a low three-year median payout ratio of 24%, meaning that the company retains the remaining 76% of its profits. This suggests that the management is reinvesting most of the profits to grow the 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. 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 20%. Therefore, the company's future ROE is also not expected to change by much with analysts predicting an ROE of 15%.

Summary

In total, we are pretty happy with Robertet'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. With that said, the latest industry analyst forecasts reveal that the company's earnings are expected to accelerate. 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.