Has E. Schnapp & Co. Works Ltd's (TLV:SHNP) Impressive Stock Performance Got Anything to Do With Its Fundamentals?

Most readers would already be aware that E. Schnapp Works' (TLV:SHNP) stock increased significantly by 28% over the past three months. As most would know, fundamentals are what usually guide market price movements over the long-term, so we decided to look at the company's key financial indicators today to determine if they have any role to play in the recent price movement. In this article, we decided to focus on E. Schnapp Works' ROE.

Return on equity or ROE is a key measure used to assess how efficiently a company's management is utilizing the company's capital. 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 E. Schnapp Works

How To 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 E. Schnapp Works is:

7.2% = ₪22m ÷ ₪303m (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2020).

The 'return' is the income the business earned over the last year. Another way to think of that is that for every ₪1 worth of equity, the company was able to earn ₪0.07 in profit.

What Is The Relationship Between ROE And Earnings Growth?

We have already established that ROE serves as an efficient profit-generating gauge for a company's future earnings. 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.

A Side By Side comparison of E. Schnapp Works' Earnings Growth And 7.2% ROE

At first glance, E. Schnapp Works' ROE doesn't look very promising. However, the fact that the its ROE is quite higher to the industry average of 5.3% doesn't go unnoticed by us. However, E. Schnapp Works' five year net income decline rate was 45%. Bear in mind, the company does have a slightly low ROE. It is just that the industry ROE is lower. So that could be one of the factors that are causing earnings growth to shrink.

Furthermore, even when compared to the industry, which has been shrinking its earnings at a rate 0.9% in the same period, we found that E. Schnapp Works' performance is pretty disappointing, as it suggests that the company has been shrunk its earnings at a rate faster than the industry.

The basis for attaching value to a company is, to a great extent, tied to its earnings growth. It’s important for an investor to know whether the market has priced in the company's expected earnings growth (or decline). This then helps them determine if the stock is placed for a bright or bleak future. If you're wondering about E. Schnapp Works''s valuation, check out this gauge of its price-to-earnings ratio, as compared to its industry.

Is E. Schnapp Works Efficiently Re-investing Its Profits?

When we piece together E. Schnapp Works' low three-year median payout ratio of 18% (where it is retaining 82% of its profits), calculated for the last three-year period, we are puzzled by the lack of growth. The low payout should mean that the company is retaining most of its earnings and consequently, should see some growth. It looks like there might be some other reasons to explain the lack in that respect. For example, the business could be in decline.

In addition, E. Schnapp Works has been paying dividends over a period of at least ten years suggesting that keeping up dividend payments is way more important to the management even if it comes at the cost of business growth.

Conclusion

In total, it does look like E. Schnapp Works has some positive aspects to its business. Yet, the low earnings growth is a bit concerning, especially given that the company has a respectable rate of return and is reinvesting a huge portion of its profits. By the looks of it, there could be some other factors, not necessarily in control of the business, that's preventing growth. While we won't completely dismiss the company, what we would do, is try to ascertain how risky the business is to make a more informed decision around the company. Our risks dashboard would have the 4 risks we have identified for E. Schnapp Works.

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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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