Page Industries Limited's (NSE:PAGEIND) Stock Has Shown A Decent Performance: Have Financials A Role To Play?

Page Industries' (NSE:PAGEIND) stock is up by 4.9% over the past three months. We wonder if and what role the company's financials play in that price change as a company's long-term fundamentals usually dictate market outcomes. Specifically, we decided to study Page Industries' 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.

Check out our latest analysis for Page Industries

How Do You 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 Page Industries is:

36% = ₹5.8b ÷ ₹16b (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2024).

The 'return' refers to a company's earnings over the last year. Another way to think of that is that for every ₹1 worth of equity, the company was able to earn ₹0.36 in profit.

Why Is ROE Important For Earnings Growth?

Thus far, we have learned that ROE measures how efficiently a company is generating its profits. 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. 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.

A Side By Side comparison of Page Industries' Earnings Growth And 36% ROE

To begin with, Page Industries has a pretty high ROE which is interesting. Additionally, the company's ROE is higher compared to the industry average of 8.0% which is quite remarkable. This probably laid the groundwork for Page Industries' moderate 15% net income growth seen over the past five years.

We then compared Page Industries' net income growth with the industry and found that the company's growth figure is lower than the average industry growth rate of 20% in the same 5-year period, which is a bit concerning.

Earnings growth is a huge factor in stock valuation. What investors need to determine next is if the expected earnings growth, or the lack of it, is already built into the share price. This then helps them determine if the stock is placed for a bright or bleak future. Is Page Industries fairly valued compared to other companies? These 3 valuation measures might help you decide.

Is Page Industries Using Its Retained Earnings Effectively?

Page Industries has a significant three-year median payout ratio of 62%, meaning that it is left with only 38% to reinvest into its business. This implies that the company has been able to achieve decent earnings growth despite returning most of its profits to shareholders.

Moreover, Page Industries is determined to keep sharing its profits with shareholders which we infer from its long history of paying a dividend for at least ten years. Based on the latest analysts' estimates, we found that the company's future payout ratio over the next three years is expected to hold steady at 59%. Therefore, the company's future ROE is also not expected to change by much with analysts predicting an ROE of 41%.

Summary

Overall, we feel that Page Industries certainly does have some positive factors to consider. Its earnings growth is decent, and the high ROE does contribute to that growth. However, investors could have benefitted even more from the high ROE, had the company been reinvesting more of its earnings. On studying current analyst estimates, we found that analysts expect the company to continue its recent growth streak. To know more about the company's future earnings growth forecasts take a look at this free report on analyst forecasts for the company to find out more.

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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.