Amica S.A.'s (WSE:AMC) Stock On An Uptrend: Could Fundamentals Be Driving The Momentum?

Amica's (WSE:AMC) stock is up by a considerable 5.6% over the past week. We wonder if and what role the company's financials play in that price change as a company's long-term fundamentals usually dictate market outcomes. In this article, we decided to focus on Amica'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. Put another way, it reveals the company's success at turning shareholder investments into profits.

View our latest analysis for Amica

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 Amica is:

14% = zł141m ÷ zł1.0b (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2020).

The 'return' is the income the business earned over the last year. So, this means that for every PLN1 of its shareholder's investments, the company generates a profit of PLN0.14.

Why Is ROE Important For Earnings Growth?

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

A Side By Side comparison of Amica's Earnings Growth And 14% ROE

To start with, Amica's ROE looks acceptable. And on comparing with the industry, we found that the the average industry ROE is similar at 14%. Given the circumstances, we can't help but wonder why Amica saw little to no growth in the past five years. Based on this, we feel that there might be other reasons which haven't been discussed so far in this article that could be hampering the company's growth. For example, it could be that the company has a high payout ratio or the business has allocated capital poorly, for instance.

As a next step, we compared Amica's net income growth with the industry and were disappointed to see that the company's growth is lower than the industry average growth of 12% in the same period.

Earnings growth is a huge factor in stock valuation. What investors need to determine next is if the expected earnings growth, or the lack of it, is already built into the share price. This then helps them determine if the stock is placed for a bright or bleak future. If you're wondering about Amica's's valuation, check out this gauge of its price-to-earnings ratio, as compared to its industry.

Is Amica Efficiently Re-investing Its Profits?

Amica's low three-year median payout ratio of 22%, (meaning the company retains78% of profits) should mean that the company is retaining most of its earnings and consequently, should see higher growth than it has reported.

Moreover, Amica has been paying dividends for at least ten years or more suggesting that management must have perceived that the shareholders prefer dividends over earnings growth.

Conclusion

Overall, we feel that Amica certainly does have some positive factors to consider. Yet, the low earnings growth is a bit concerning, especially given that the company has a high rate of return and is reinvesting ma huge portion of its profits. By the looks of it, there could be some other factors, not necessarily in control of the business, that's preventing growth. So far, we've only made a quick discussion around the company's earnings growth. So it may be worth checking this free detailed graph of Amica's past earnings, as well as revenue and cash flows to get a deeper insight into the company's performance.

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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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