Is Polycab India Limited's (NSE:POLYCAB) Latest Stock Performance Being Led By Its Strong Fundamentals?

Polycab India's (NSE:POLYCAB) stock up by 8.3% over the past three months. Since the market usually pay for a company’s long-term financial health, we decided to study the company’s fundamentals to see if they could be influencing the market. Specifically, we decided to study Polycab India's ROE in this article.

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 Polycab India

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 Polycab India is:

21% = ₹18b ÷ ₹87b (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2024).

The 'return' is the amount earned after tax over the last twelve months. That means that for every ₹1 worth of shareholders' equity, the company generated ₹0.21 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. 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.

Polycab India's Earnings Growth And 21% ROE

To begin with, Polycab India seems to have a respectable ROE. Especially when compared to the industry average of 14% the company's ROE looks pretty impressive. Probably as a result of this, Polycab India was able to see an impressive net income growth of 23% over the last five years. We reckon that there could also be other factors at play here. Such as - high earnings retention or an efficient management in place.

Next, on comparing with the industry net income growth, we found that Polycab India's reported growth was lower than the industry growth of 30% over the last few years, which is not something we like to see.

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. Doing so will help them establish if the stock's future looks promising or ominous. If you're wondering about Polycab India's's valuation, check out this gauge of its price-to-earnings ratio, as compared to its industry.

Is Polycab India Making Efficient Use Of Its Profits?

Polycab India's ' three-year median payout ratio is on the lower side at 20% implying that it is retaining a higher percentage (80%) of its profits. So it seems like the management is reinvesting profits heavily to grow its business and this reflects in its earnings growth number.

Moreover, Polycab India is determined to keep sharing its profits with shareholders which we infer from its long history of five years of paying a dividend. Upon studying the latest analysts' consensus data, we found that the company is expected to keep paying out approximately 21% of its profits over the next three years. Accordingly, forecasts suggest that Polycab India's future ROE will be 21% which is again, similar to the current ROE.

Summary

In total, we are pretty happy with Polycab India's performance. In particular, it's great to see that the company is investing heavily into its business and along with a high rate of return, that has resulted in a respectable growth in its earnings. With that said, the latest industry analyst forecasts reveal that the company's earnings growth is expected to slow down. To know more about the latest analysts predictions for the company, check out this visualization of analyst forecasts for the company.

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

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.