Lentex S.A.'s (WSE:LTX) Stock Going Strong But Fundamentals Look Weak: What Implications Could This Have On The Stock?

Lentex's (WSE:LTX) stock is up by a considerable 11% over the past three months. We, however wanted to have a closer look at its key financial indicators as the markets usually pay for long-term fundamentals, and in this case, they don't look very promising. Particularly, we will be paying attention to Lentex's ROE today.

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.

Check out our latest analysis for Lentex

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 Lentex is:

10% = zł37m ÷ zł351m (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2020).

The 'return' refers to a company's earnings over the last year. So, this means that for every PLN1 of its shareholder's investments, the company generates a profit of PLN0.10.

Why Is ROE Important For Earnings Growth?

Thus far, we have learned that ROE measures how efficiently a company is generating its profits. Depending on how much of these profits the company reinvests or "retains", and how effectively it does so, we are then able to assess a company’s earnings growth potential. 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.

Lentex's Earnings Growth And 10% ROE

At first glance, Lentex's ROE doesn't look very promising. A quick further study shows that the company's ROE doesn't compare favorably to the industry average of 14% either. Given the circumstances, the significant decline in net income by 24% seen by Lentex over the last five years is not surprising. We believe that there also might be other aspects that are negatively influencing the company's earnings prospects. Such as - low earnings retention or poor allocation of capital.

So, as a next step, we compared Lentex's performance against the industry and were disappointed to discover that while the company has been shrinking its earnings, the industry has been growing its earnings at a rate of 12% in the same period.

Earnings growth is an important metric to consider when valuing a stock. The investor should try to establish if the expected growth or decline in earnings, whichever the case may be, is priced in. This then helps them determine if the stock is placed for a bright or bleak future. Is Lentex fairly valued compared to other companies? These 3 valuation measures might help you decide.

Is Lentex Efficiently Re-investing Its Profits?

Lentex's very high three-year median payout ratio of 110% over the last three years suggests that the company is paying its shareholders more than what it is earning and this explains the company's shrinking earnings. Paying a dividend higher than reported profits is not a sustainable move. To know the 2 risks we have identified for Lentex visit our risks dashboard for free.

In addition, Lentex has been paying dividends over a period of eight years suggesting that keeping up dividend payments is preferred by the management even though earnings have been in decline.

Conclusion

On the whole, Lentex's performance is quite a big let-down. The low ROE, combined with the fact that the company is paying out almost if not all, of its profits as dividends, has resulted in the lack or absence of growth in its earnings. Up till now, we've only made a short study of the company's growth data. So it may be worth checking this free detailed graph of Lentex'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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