With An ROE Of 10.68%, Has Scott Technology Limited's (NZE:SCT) Management Done Well?

Scott Technology Limited (NZSE:SCT) performed in line with its industrial machinery industry on the basis of its ROE – producing a return of10.68% relative to the peer average of 10.94% over the past 12 months. But what is more interesting is whether SCT can sustain or improve on this level of return. Metrics such as financial leverage can impact the level of ROE which in turn can affect the sustainability of SCT's returns. Let me show you what I mean by this. Check out our latest analysis for Scott Technology

What you must know about ROE

Firstly, Return on Equity, or ROE, is simply the percentage of last years’ earning against the book value of shareholders’ equity. For example, if the company invests NZ$1 in the form of equity, it will generate NZ$0.11 in earnings from this. Investors that are diversifying their portfolio based on industry may want to maximise their return in the Industrial Machinery sector by choosing the highest returning stock. But this can be misleading as each company has different costs of equity and also varying debt levels, which could artificially push up ROE whilst accumulating high interest expense.

ROE is assessed against cost of equity, which is measured using the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) – but let’s not dive into the details of that today. For now, let’s just look at the cost of equity number for Scott Technology, which is 8.85%. While Scott Technology’s peers may have higher ROE, it may also incur higher cost of equity. An undesirable and unsustainable practice would be if returns exceeded cost. However, this is not the case for Scott Technology which is encouraging. 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. The other component, asset turnover, illustrates how much revenue Scott Technology can make from its 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 Scott Technology is fuelling ROE by excessively raising debt. Ideally, Scott Technology should have a balanced capital structure, which we can check by looking at the historic debt-to-equity ratio of the company. Currently Scott Technology has virtually no debt, which means its returns are predominantly driven by equity capital. This could explain why Scott Technology's' ROE is lower than its industry peers, most of which may have some degree of debt in its business.

Next Steps:

ROE is a simple yet informative ratio, illustrating the various components that each measure the quality of the overall stock. Even though Scott Technology returned below the industry average, its ROE comes in excess of its cost of equity. Also, ROE is not likely to be inflated by excessive debt funding, giving shareholders more conviction in the sustainability of returns, which has headroom to increase further. Although ROE can be a useful metric, it is only a small part of diligent research.

For Scott Technology, I've compiled three relevant factors 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. Future Earnings: How does Scott Technology's growth rate compare to its peers and the wider market? Dig deeper into the analyst consensus number for the upcoming years by interacting with our free analyst growth expectation chart.
3. Other High-Growth Alternatives : Are there other high-growth stocks you could be holding instead of Scott Technology? 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.