Plastika Kritis S.A.'s (ATH:PLAKR) Stock's On An Uptrend: Are Strong Financials Guiding The Market?

Most readers would already be aware that Plastika Kritis' (ATH:PLAKR) stock increased significantly by 6.5% over the past month. Given that the market rewards strong financials in the long-term, we wonder if that is the case in this instance. Particularly, we will be paying attention to Plastika Kritis' ROE today.

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. Simply put, it is used to assess the profitability of a company in relation to its equity capital.

Check out our latest analysis for Plastika Kritis

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 Plastika Kritis is:

16% = €49m ÷ €311m (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2020).

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?

We have already established that ROE serves as an efficient profit-generating gauge for a company's future earnings. Based on how much of its profits the company chooses to reinvest or "retain", we are then able to evaluate a company's future ability to generate profits. 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.

A Side By Side comparison of Plastika Kritis' Earnings Growth And 16% ROE

At first glance, Plastika Kritis seems to have a decent ROE. On comparing with the average industry ROE of 12% the company's ROE looks pretty remarkable. This probably laid the ground for Plastika Kritis' moderate 17% net income growth seen over the past five years.

As a next step, we compared Plastika Kritis' 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 8.4%.

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. Doing so will help them establish if the stock's future looks promising or ominous. One good indicator of expected earnings growth is the P/E ratio which determines the price the market is willing to pay for a stock based on its earnings prospects. So, you may want to check if Plastika Kritis is trading on a high P/E or a low P/E, relative to its industry.

Is Plastika Kritis Using Its Retained Earnings Effectively?

Plastika Kritis has a three-year median payout ratio of 26%, which implies that it retains the remaining 74% of its profits. This suggests that its dividend is well covered, and given the decent growth seen by the company, it looks like management is reinvesting its earnings efficiently.

Additionally, Plastika Kritis has paid dividends over a period of three years which means that the company is pretty serious about sharing its profits with shareholders.

Summary

On the whole, we feel that Plastika Kritis' performance has been quite good. 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. If the company continues to grow its earnings the way it has, that could have a positive impact on its share price given how earnings per share influence long-term share prices. Remember, the price of a stock is also dependent on the perceived risk. Therefore investors must keep themselves informed about the risks involved before investing in any company. Our risks dashboard will have the 1 risk we have identified for Plastika Kritis.

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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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