Do Fundamentals Have Any Role To Play In Driving Saudi Telecom Company's (TADAWUL:7010) Stock Up Recently?

Most readers would already know that Saudi Telecom's (TADAWUL:7010) stock increased by 9.3% over the past three months. 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. Specifically, we decided to study Saudi Telecom's ROE in this article.

ROE or return on equity is a useful tool to assess how effectively a company can generate returns on the investment it received from its shareholders. In short, ROE shows the profit each dollar generates with respect to its shareholder investments.

See our latest analysis for Saudi Telecom

How Is ROE Calculated?

The formula for return on equity is:

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

So, based on the above formula, the ROE for Saudi Telecom is:

16% = ر.س13b ÷ ر.س82b (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2024).

The 'return' refers to a company's earnings over the last year. One way to conceptualize this is that for each SAR1 of shareholders' capital it has, the company made SAR0.16 in profit.

What Is The Relationship Between ROE And Earnings Growth?

Thus far, we have learned that ROE measures how efficiently a company is generating its profits. We now need to evaluate how much profit the company reinvests or "retains" for future growth which then gives us an idea about the growth potential of the company. 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.

A Side By Side comparison of Saudi Telecom's Earnings Growth And 16% ROE

It is hard to argue that Saudi Telecom's ROE is much good in and of itself. However, the fact that it is higher than the industry average of 9.9% makes us a bit more interested. And more so given that Saudi Telecom has grown its net income at an acceptable rate of 5.1%. Bear in mind, the company does have a low ROE. It is just that the industry ROE is lower. So there might well be other reasons for the earnings to grow. Such as high earnings retention or an efficient management in place.

As a next step, we compared Saudi Telecom'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 14% in the same period.

The basis for attaching value to a company is, to a great extent, tied to its earnings growth. The investor should try to establish if the expected growth or decline in earnings, whichever the case may be, is priced in. By doing so, they will have an idea if the stock is headed into clear blue waters or if swampy waters await. Is 7010 fairly valued? This infographic on the company's intrinsic value has everything you need to know.

Is Saudi Telecom Making Efficient Use Of Its Profits?

Saudi Telecom has a significant three-year median payout ratio of 66%, meaning that it is left with only 34% to reinvest into its business. This implies that the company has been able to achieve decent earnings growth despite returning most of its profits to shareholders.

Moreover, Saudi Telecom 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. Based on the latest analysts' estimates, we found that the company's future payout ratio over the next three years is expected to hold steady at 69%. Accordingly, forecasts suggest that Saudi Telecom's future ROE will be 17% which is again, similar to the current ROE.

Summary

Overall, we feel that Saudi Telecom certainly does have some positive factors to consider. Its earnings have grown respectably as we saw earlier, which was likely achieved by the company reinvesting its earnings at a decent rate of return. Still, its earnings retention is quite low, so we wonder if the company's growth could be higher, were it to pay out less dividends and retain more of its profits? On studying current analyst estimates, we found that analysts expect the company to continue its recent growth streak. 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.

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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.