Is Ibraco Berhad's (KLSE:IBRACO) Recent Stock Performance Tethered To Its Strong Fundamentals?

Ibraco Berhad's (KLSE:IBRACO) stock is up by a considerable 19% over the past three months. Since the market usually pay for a company’s long-term fundamentals, we decided to study the company’s key performance indicators to see if they could be influencing the market. Particularly, we will be paying attention to Ibraco Berhad's ROE today.

Return on equity or ROE is an important factor to be considered by a shareholder because it tells them how effectively their capital is being reinvested. Put another way, it reveals the company's success at turning shareholder investments into profits.

Check out our latest analysis for Ibraco Berhad

How Is ROE Calculated?

The formula for ROE is:

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

So, based on the above formula, the ROE for Ibraco Berhad is:

9.3% = RM45m ÷ RM488m (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2023).

The 'return' is the profit over the last twelve months. That means that for every MYR1 worth of shareholders' equity, the company generated MYR0.09 in profit.

Why Is ROE Important For Earnings Growth?

So far, we've learned that ROE is a measure of a company's profitability. 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 everything else remains unchanged, the higher the ROE and profit retention, the higher the growth rate of a company compared to companies that don't necessarily bear these characteristics.

Ibraco Berhad's Earnings Growth And 9.3% ROE

At first glance, Ibraco Berhad's ROE doesn't look very promising. However, the fact that the company's ROE is higher than the average industry ROE of 4.1%, is definitely interesting. Consequently, this likely laid the ground for the decent growth of 5.4% seen over the past five years by Ibraco Berhad. That being said, the company does have a slightly low ROE to begin with, just that it is higher than the industry average. Hence there might be some other aspects that are causing earnings to grow. Such as- high earnings retention or the company belonging to a high growth industry.

Next, on comparing Ibraco Berhad's net income growth with the industry, we found that the company's reported growth is similar to the industry average growth rate of 6.5% over the last few years.

The basis for attaching value to a company is, to a great extent, tied to its earnings growth. It’s important for an investor to know whether the market has priced in the company's expected earnings growth (or decline). This then helps them determine if the stock is placed for a bright or bleak future. If you're wondering about Ibraco Berhad's's valuation, check out this gauge of its price-to-earnings ratio, as compared to its industry.

Is Ibraco Berhad Using Its Retained Earnings Effectively?

Ibraco Berhad has a three-year median payout ratio of 36%, which implies that it retains the remaining 64% of its profits. This suggests that its dividend is well covered, and given the decent growth seen by the company, it looks like management is reinvesting its earnings efficiently.

Moreover, Ibraco Berhad 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. Upon studying the latest analysts' consensus data, we found that the company is expected to keep paying out approximately 30% of its profits over the next three years. However, Ibraco Berhad's ROE is predicted to rise to 12% despite there being no anticipated change in its payout ratio.

Conclusion

Overall, we are quite pleased with Ibraco Berhad's performance. Particularly, we like that the company is reinvesting heavily into its business at a moderate rate of return. Unsurprisingly, this has led to an impressive earnings growth. 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.

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.