Laurus Labs Limited's (NSE:LAURUSLABS) Stock Been Rising: Are Strong Financials Guiding The Market?

Laurus Labs' (NSE:LAURUSLABS) stock is up by 3.4% over the past three months. Given that the market rewards strong financials in the long-term, we wonder if that is the case in this instance. Specifically, we decided to study Laurus Labs' 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. In simpler terms, it measures the profitability of a company in relation to shareholder's equity.

View our latest analysis for Laurus Labs

How To Calculate Return On Equity?

Return on equity can be calculated by using the formula:

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

So, based on the above formula, the ROE for Laurus Labs is:

36% = ₹8.0b ÷ ₹22b (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2020).

The 'return' refers to a company's earnings over the last year. So, this means that for every ₹1 of its shareholder's investments, the company generates a profit of ₹0.36.

What Is The Relationship Between ROE And Earnings Growth?

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

Laurus Labs' Earnings Growth And 36% ROE

To begin with, Laurus Labs has a pretty high ROE which is interesting. Secondly, even when compared to the industry average of 14% the company's ROE is quite impressive. So, the substantial 36% net income growth seen by Laurus Labs over the past five years isn't overly surprising.

We then compared Laurus Labs' 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 16% in the same period.

Earnings growth is an important metric to consider when valuing a stock. 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. If you're wondering about Laurus Labs''s valuation, check out this gauge of its price-to-earnings ratio, as compared to its industry.

Is Laurus Labs Making Efficient Use Of Its Profits?

Laurus Labs' ' three-year median payout ratio is on the lower side at 10.0% implying that it is retaining a higher percentage (90%) of its profits. This suggests that the management is reinvesting most of the profits to grow the business as evidenced by the growth seen by the company.

Besides, Laurus Labs has been paying dividends over a period of four years. This shows that the company is committed to sharing profits with its shareholders. Upon studying the latest analysts' consensus data, we found that the company is expected to keep paying out approximately 9.9% of its profits over the next three years. Accordingly, forecasts suggest that Laurus Labs' future ROE will be 30% which is again, similar to the current ROE.

Summary

In total, we are pretty happy with Laurus Labs' performance. Particularly, we like that the company is reinvesting heavily into its business, and at a high rate of return. Unsurprisingly, this has led to an impressive earnings growth. That being so, a study of the latest analyst forecasts show that the company is expected to see a slowdown in its future earnings growth. 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. 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.
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