Lumax Industries Limited's (NSE:LUMAXIND) Stock Has Seen Strong Momentum: Does That Call For Deeper Study Of Its Financial Prospects?

Lumax Industries (NSE:LUMAXIND) has had a great run on the share market with its stock up by a significant 18% over the last three months. Given that stock prices are usually aligned with a company's financial performance in the long-term, we decided to study its financial indicators more closely to see if they had a hand to play in the recent price move. Particularly, we will be paying attention to Lumax Industries' 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. Simply put, it is used to assess the profitability of a company in relation to its equity capital.

See our latest analysis for Lumax Industries

How Is ROE Calculated?

Return on equity can be calculated by using the formula:

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

So, based on the above formula, the ROE for Lumax Industries is:

2.8% = ₹118m ÷ ₹4.2b (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2020).

The 'return' is the profit over the last twelve months. That means that for every ₹1 worth of shareholders' equity, the company generated ₹0.03 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. 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.

Lumax Industries' Earnings Growth And 2.8% ROE

As you can see, Lumax Industries' ROE looks pretty weak. Even when compared to the industry average of 6.7%, the ROE figure is pretty disappointing. Therefore, Lumax Industries' flat earnings over the past five years can possibly be explained by the low ROE amongst other factors.

We then compared Lumax Industries' net income growth with the industry and found that the industry which has shrunk at a rate of 0.9% in the same period, which makes the company's growth somewhat better.

Earnings growth is an important metric to consider when valuing a stock. It’s important for an investor to know whether the market has priced in the company's expected earnings growth (or decline). 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 Lumax Industries is trading on a high P/E or a low P/E, relative to its industry.

Is Lumax Industries Making Efficient Use Of Its Profits?

In spite of a normal three-year median payout ratio of 31% (or a retention ratio of 69%), Lumax Industries hasn't seen much growth in its earnings. So there could be some other explanation in that regard. For instance, the company's business may be deteriorating.

Additionally, Lumax Industries has paid dividends over a period of at least ten years, which means that the company's management is determined to pay dividends even if it means little to no earnings growth. Upon studying the latest analysts' consensus data, we found that the company's future payout ratio is expected to drop to 2.5% over the next three years. As a result, the expected drop in Lumax Industries' payout ratio explains the anticipated rise in the company's future ROE to 16%, over the same period.

Summary

In total, it does look like Lumax Industries has some positive aspects to its business. Even in spite of the low rate of return, the company has posted impressive earnings growth as a result of reinvesting heavily into its business. Having said that, looking at the current analyst estimates, we found that the company's earnings are expected to gain momentum. Are these analysts expectations based on the broad expectations for the industry, or on the company's fundamentals? Click here to be taken to our analyst's forecasts page for the company.

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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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