Is Cipla Limited's (NSE:CIPLA) Latest Stock Performance Being Led By Its Strong Fundamentals?

Most readers would already know that Cipla's (NSE:CIPLA) stock increased by 5.9% 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. In this article, we decided to focus on Cipla's ROE.

Return on equity or ROE is a key measure used to assess how efficiently a company's management is utilizing the company's capital. 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 Cipla is:

17% = ₹54b ÷ ₹313b (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2025).

The 'return' is the profit over the last twelve months. One way to conceptualize this is that for each ₹1 of shareholders' capital it has, the company made ₹0.17 in profit.

View our latest analysis for Cipla

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.

Cipla's Earnings Growth And 17% ROE

At first glance, Cipla seems to have a decent ROE. Further, the company's ROE compares quite favorably to the industry average of 12%. Probably as a result of this, Cipla was able to see an impressive net income growth of 21% over the last five years. However, there could also be other causes behind this growth. Such as - high earnings retention or an efficient management in place.

We then compared Cipla's net income growth with the industry and we're pleased to see that the company's growth figure is higher when compared with the industry which has a growth rate of 12% in the same 5-year period.

Earnings growth is an important metric to consider when valuing a stock. What investors need to determine next is if the expected earnings growth, or the lack of it, is already built into the share price. By doing so, they will have an idea if the stock is headed into clear blue waters or if swampy waters await. If you're wondering about Cipla's's valuation, check out this gauge of its price-to-earnings ratio, as compared to its industry.

Is Cipla Using Its Retained Earnings Effectively?

Cipla's three-year median payout ratio to shareholders is 24%, which is quite low. This implies that the company is retaining 76% 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, Cipla 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. Our latest analyst data shows that the future payout ratio of the company over the next three years is expected to be approximately 23%. Accordingly, forecasts suggest that Cipla's future ROE will be 14% which is again, similar to the current ROE.

Conclusion

In total, we are pretty happy with Cipla'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 sizeable growth in its earnings. With that said, the latest industry analyst forecasts reveal that the company's earnings growth is expected to slow down. 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.