Is The Market Rewarding Sterling Tools Limited (NSE:STERTOOLS) With A Negative Sentiment As A Result Of Its Mixed Fundamentals?

Sterling Tools (NSE:STERTOOLS) has had a rough month with its share price down 9.8%. We, however decided to study the company's financials to determine if they have got anything to do with the price decline. Long-term fundamentals are usually what drive market outcomes, so it's worth paying close attention. Particularly, we will be paying attention to Sterling Tools' ROE today.

Return on Equity or ROE is a test of how effectively a company is growing its value and managing investors’ money. Simply put, it is used to assess the profitability of a company in relation to its equity capital.

See our latest analysis for Sterling Tools

How Do You 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 Sterling Tools is:

7.5% = ₹231m ÷ ₹3.1b (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2020).

The 'return' is the yearly profit. Another way to think of that is that for every ₹1 worth of equity, the company was able to earn ₹0.08 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. 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. 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.

Sterling Tools' Earnings Growth And 7.5% ROE

It is hard to argue that Sterling Tools' ROE is much good in and of itself. A comparison with the industry shows that the company's ROE is pretty similar to the average industry ROE of 6.5%. Given the circumstances, the significant decline in net income by 6.4% seen by Sterling Tools over the last five years is not surprising.

As a next step, we compared Sterling Tools' performance with the industry and found thatSterling Tools' performance is depressing even when compared with the industry, which has shrunk its earnings at a rate of 0.8% in the same period, which is a slower than the company.

The basis for attaching value to a company is, to a great extent, tied to its earnings growth. The investor should try to establish if the expected growth or decline in earnings, whichever the case may be, is priced in. By doing so, they will have an idea if the stock is headed into clear blue waters or if swampy waters await. 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 Sterling Tools is trading on a high P/E or a low P/E, relative to its industry.

Is Sterling Tools Using Its Retained Earnings Effectively?

Sterling Tools' low three-year median payout ratio of 15% (or a retention ratio of 85%) over the last three years should mean that the company is retaining most of its earnings to fuel its growth but the company's earnings have actually shrunk. This typically shouldn't be the case when a company is retaining most of its earnings. So there could be some other explanations in that regard. For example, the company's business may be deteriorating.

In addition, Sterling Tools 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

Overall, we have mixed feelings about Sterling Tools. While the company does have a high rate of profit retention, its low rate of return is probably hampering its earnings growth. Wrapping up, we would proceed with caution with this company and one way of doing that would be to look at the risk profile of the business. To know the 3 risks we have identified for Sterling Tools visit our risks dashboard for free.

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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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