Has ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company Limited (NSE:ICICIPRULI) Stock's Recent Performance Got Anything to Do With Its Financial Health?

ICICI Prudential Life Insurance's (NSE:ICICIPRULI) stock is up by 4.1% over the past week. Given that stock prices are usually aligned with a company's financial performance in the long-term, we decided to investigate if the company's decent financials had a hand to play in the recent price move. In this article, we decided to focus on ICICI Prudential Life Insurance's ROE.

Return on Equity or ROE is a test of how effectively a company is growing its value and managing investors’ money. 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 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 ICICI Prudential Life Insurance is:

10% = ₹13b ÷ ₹127b (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2025).

The 'return' is the profit over the last twelve months. That means that for every ₹1 worth of shareholders' equity, the company generated ₹0.10 in profit.

View our latest analysis for ICICI Prudential Life Insurance

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.

ICICI Prudential Life Insurance's Earnings Growth And 10% ROE

At first glance, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance's ROE doesn't look very promising. However, its ROE is similar to the industry average of 8.9%, so we won't completely dismiss the company. Having said that, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance has shown a modest net income growth of 6.8% over the past five years. Considering the moderately low ROE, it is quite possible that there might be some other aspects that are positively influencing the company's earnings growth. Such as - high earnings retention or an efficient management in place.

As a next step, we compared ICICI Prudential Life Insurance'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 32% in the same period.

Earnings growth is a huge factor in stock valuation. It’s important for an investor to know whether the market has priced in the company's expected earnings growth (or decline). 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 ICICI Prudential Life Insurance is trading on a high P/E or a low P/E, relative to its industry.

Is ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Using Its Retained Earnings Effectively?

ICICI Prudential Life Insurance has a low three-year median payout ratio of 9.9%, meaning that the company retains the remaining 90% of its profits. This suggests that the management is reinvesting most of the profits to grow the business.

Besides, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance has been paying dividends over a period of nine years. This shows that the company is committed to sharing profits with its shareholders. Looking at the current analyst consensus data, we can see that the company's future payout ratio is expected to rise to 12% over the next three years. However, the company's ROE is not expected to change by much despite the higher expected payout ratio.

Conclusion

In total, it does look like ICICI Prudential Life Insurance has some positive aspects to its business. Namely, its respectable earnings growth, which it achieved due to it retaining most of its profits. However, given the low ROE, investors may not be benefitting from all that reinvestment after all. 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. 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.