Can Magseis ASA (OB:MSEIS) Continue To Outperform Its Industry?

The content of this article will benefit those of you who are starting to educate yourself about investing in the stock market and want to start learning about core concepts of fundamental analysis on practical examples from today's market.

With an ROE of 6.43%, Magseis ASA (OB:MSEIS) returned in-line to its own industry which delivered 6.34% over the past year. But what is more interesting is whether MSEIS can sustain this level of return. Sustainability can be gauged by a company’s financial leverage – the more debt it has, the higher ROE is pumped up in the short term, at the expense of long term interest payment burden. Let me show you what I mean by this.

Check out our latest analysis for Magseis

What you must know about ROE

Return on Equity (ROE) is a measure of Magseis’s profit relative to its shareholders’ equity. An ROE of 6.43% implies NOK0.064 returned on every NOK1 invested, so the higher the return, the better. If investors diversify their portfolio by industry, they may want to maximise their return in the Oil and Gas Equipment and Services sector by investing in the highest returning stock. However, this can be misleading as each firm has different costs of equity and debt levels i.e. the more debt Magseis has, the higher ROE is pumped up in the short term, at the expense of long term interest payment burden.

Returns are usually compared to costs to measure the efficiency of capital. Magseis’s cost of equity is 8.71%. Given a discrepancy of -2.29% between return and cost, this indicated that Magseis may be paying more for its capital than what it’s generating in return. ROE can be dissected into three distinct ratios: net profit margin, asset turnover, and financial leverage. This is called the Dupont Formula:

Basically, profit margin measures how much of revenue trickles down into earnings which illustrates how efficient the business is with its cost management. Asset turnover reveals how much revenue can be generated from Magseis’s asset base. Finally, financial leverage will be our main focus today. It shows how much of assets are funded by equity and can show how sustainable the company’s capital structure is. We can assess whether Magseis is fuelling ROE by excessively raising debt. Ideally, Magseis should have a balanced capital structure, which we can check by looking at the historic debt-to-equity ratio of the company. Currently the ratio stands at 11.48%, which is very low. This means Magseis has not taken on leverage, and its above-average ROE is driven by its ability to grow its profit without a huge debt burden.

Next Steps:

ROE is one of many ratios which meaningfully dissects financial statements, which illustrates the quality of a company. Magseis exhibits a strong ROE against its peers, however it was not high enough to cover its own cost of equity this year. ROE is not likely to be inflated by excessive debt funding, giving shareholders more conviction in the sustainability of industry-beating returns. ROE is a helpful signal, but it is definitely not sufficient on its own to make an investment decision.

For Magseis, there are three key aspects you should further research:

1. Financial Health: Does it have a healthy balance sheet? Take a look at our free balance sheet analysis with six simple checks on key factors like leverage and risk.
2. Valuation: What is Magseis worth today? Is the stock undervalued, even when its growth outlook is factored into its intrinsic value? The intrinsic value infographic in our free research report helps visualize whether Magseis is currently mispriced by the market.
3. Other High-Growth Alternatives : Are there other high-growth stocks you could be holding instead of Magseis? Explore our interactive list of stocks with large growth potential to get an idea of what else is out there you may be missing!

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Simply Wall St analyst Simply Wall St and Simply Wall St have no position in any of the companies mentioned. This article 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.