Isgec Heavy Engineering Limited's (NSE:ISGEC) Stock Has Shown Weakness Lately But Financial Prospects Look Decent: Is The Market Wrong?

Isgec Heavy Engineering (NSE:ISGEC) has had a rough three months with its share price down 26%. However, stock prices are usually driven by a company’s financials over the long term, which in this case look pretty respectable. In this article, we decided to focus on Isgec Heavy Engineering's ROE.

Return on equity or ROE is an important factor to be considered by a shareholder because it tells them how effectively their capital is being reinvested. In other words, it is a profitability ratio which measures the rate of return on the capital provided by the company's shareholders.

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How Is ROE Calculated?

The formula for ROE is:

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

So, based on the above formula, the ROE for Isgec Heavy Engineering is:

11% = ₹3.2b ÷ ₹28b (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2025).

The 'return' is the amount earned after tax over the last twelve months. One way to conceptualize this is that for each ₹1 of shareholders' capital it has, the company made ₹0.11 in profit.

Check out our latest analysis for Isgec Heavy Engineering

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. 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.

Isgec Heavy Engineering's Earnings Growth And 11% ROE

When you first look at it, Isgec Heavy Engineering's ROE doesn't look that attractive. However, given that the company's ROE is similar to the average industry ROE of 14%, we may spare it some thought. Even so, Isgec Heavy Engineering has shown a fairly decent growth in its net income which grew at a rate of 14%. Taking into consideration that the ROE is not particularly high, we reckon that there could also be other factors at play which could be influencing the company's growth. For example, it is possible that the company's management has made some good strategic decisions, or that the company has a low payout ratio.

As a next step, we compared Isgec Heavy Engineering's net income growth with the industry and were disappointed to see that the company's growth is lower than the industry average growth of 27% in the same period.

Earnings growth is a huge factor in stock valuation. The investor should try to establish if the expected growth or decline in earnings, whichever the case may be, is priced in. This then helps them determine if the stock is placed for a bright or bleak future. If you're wondering about Isgec Heavy Engineering's's valuation, check out this gauge of its price-to-earnings ratio, as compared to its industry.

Is Isgec Heavy Engineering Efficiently Re-investing Its Profits?

In Isgec Heavy Engineering's case, its respectable earnings growth can probably be explained by its low three-year median payout ratio of 11% (or a retention ratio of 89%), which suggests that the company is investing most of its profits to grow its business.

Besides, Isgec Heavy Engineering has been paying dividends for at least ten years or more. This shows that the company is committed to sharing profits with its shareholders.

Summary

On the whole, we do feel that Isgec Heavy Engineering has some positive attributes. That is, a decent growth in earnings backed by a high rate of reinvestment. However, we do feel that that earnings growth could have been higher if the business were to improve on the low ROE rate. Especially given how the company is reinvesting a huge chunk of its profits. 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 will have the 1 risk we have identified for Isgec Heavy Engineering.

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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.