Will Weakness in Focus Home Interactive Société anonyme's (EPA:ALFOC) Stock Prove Temporary Given Strong Fundamentals?

It is hard to get excited after looking at Focus Home Interactive Société anonyme's (EPA:ALFOC) recent performance, when its stock has declined 28% 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 Focus Home Interactive Société anonyme'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. In other words, it is a profitability ratio which measures the rate of return on the capital provided by the company's shareholders.

See our latest analysis for Focus Home Interactive Société anonyme

How Is ROE Calculated?

The formula for ROE is:

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

So, based on the above formula, the ROE for Focus Home Interactive Société anonyme is:

19% = €13m ÷ €69m (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2021).

The 'return' is the profit 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 €0.19 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 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.

Focus Home Interactive Société anonyme's Earnings Growth And 19% ROE

To start with, Focus Home Interactive Société anonyme's ROE looks acceptable. Especially when compared to the industry average of 6.5% the company's ROE looks pretty impressive. Probably as a result of this, Focus Home Interactive Société anonyme was able to see an impressive net income growth of 21% over the last five years. We believe that there might also be other aspects that are positively influencing the company's earnings growth. For instance, the company has a low payout ratio or is being managed efficiently.

Next, on comparing with the industry net income growth, we found that the growth figure reported by Focus Home Interactive Société anonyme compares quite favourably to the industry average, which shows a decline of 0.6% in the same period.

The basis for attaching value to a company is, to a great extent, tied to its earnings growth. What investors need to determine next is if the expected earnings growth, or the lack of it, is already built into the share price. By doing so, they will have an idea if the stock is headed into clear blue waters or if swampy waters await. If you're wondering about Focus Home Interactive Société anonyme's's valuation, check out this gauge of its price-to-earnings ratio, as compared to its industry.

Is Focus Home Interactive Société anonyme Efficiently Re-investing Its Profits?

While the company did pay out a portion of its dividend in the past, it currently doesn't pay a dividend. This is likely what's driving the high earnings growth number discussed above.

Conclusion

Overall, we are quite pleased with Focus Home Interactive Société anonyme'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. On studying current analyst estimates, we found that analysts expect the company to continue its recent growth streak. To know more about the latest analysts predictions for the company, check out this visualization of analyst forecasts for the company.

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.

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