Are Isramco Negev 2 Limited Partnership's (TLV:ISRA) Fundamentals Good Enough to Warrant Buying Given The Stock's Recent Weakness?

With its stock down 20% over the past three months, it is easy to disregard Isramco Negev 2 Limited Partnership (TLV:ISRA). However, stock prices are usually driven by a company’s financials over the long term, which in this case look pretty respectable. Particularly, we will be paying attention to Isramco Negev 2 Limited Partnership's ROE today.

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 simpler terms, it measures the profitability of a company in relation to shareholder's equity.

Check out our latest analysis for Isramco Negev 2 Limited Partnership

How Is ROE Calculated?

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 Isramco Negev 2 Limited Partnership is:

22% = US$135m ÷ US$628m (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2024).

The 'return' is the profit over the last twelve months. One way to conceptualize this is that for each ₪1 of shareholders' capital it has, the company made ₪0.22 in profit.

What Is The Relationship Between ROE And Earnings Growth?

So far, we've learned that ROE is a measure of a company's profitability. 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. 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.

A Side By Side comparison of Isramco Negev 2 Limited Partnership's Earnings Growth And 22% ROE

To begin with, Isramco Negev 2 Limited Partnership seems to have a respectable ROE. Especially when compared to the industry average of 14% the company's ROE looks pretty impressive. Needless to say, we are quite surprised to see that Isramco Negev 2 Limited Partnership's net income shrunk at a rate of 26% over the past five years. Based on this, we feel that there might be other reasons which haven't been discussed so far in this article that could be hampering the company's growth. These include low earnings retention or poor allocation of capital.

So, as a next step, we compared Isramco Negev 2 Limited Partnership's performance against the industry and were disappointed to discover that while the company has been shrinking its earnings, the industry has been growing its earnings at a rate of 29% over the last few years.

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 Isramco Negev 2 Limited Partnership is trading on a high P/E or a low P/E, relative to its industry.

Is Isramco Negev 2 Limited Partnership Using Its Retained Earnings Effectively?

Despite having a normal three-year median payout ratio of 43% (where it is retaining 57% of its profits), Isramco Negev 2 Limited Partnership has seen a decline in earnings as we saw above. So there could be some other explanations in that regard. For instance, the company's business may be deteriorating.

In addition, Isramco Negev 2 Limited Partnership has been paying dividends over a period of seven years suggesting that keeping up dividend payments is preferred by the management even though earnings have been in decline.

Summary

In total, it does look like Isramco Negev 2 Limited Partnership has some positive aspects to its business. However, given the high ROE and high profit retention, we would expect the company to be delivering strong earnings growth, but that isn't the case here. This suggests that there might be some external threat to the business, that's hampering its 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. You can see the 3 risks we have identified for Isramco Negev 2 Limited Partnership by visiting our risks dashboard for free on our platform here.

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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.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team@simplywallst.com