Is Train Alliance Sweden AB (publ)'s (STO:TRAIN B) Stock Price Struggling As A Result Of Its Mixed Financials?

It is hard to get excited after looking at Train Alliance Sweden's (STO:TRAIN B) recent performance, when its stock has declined 18% over the past month. It seems that the market might have completely ignored the positive aspects of the company's fundamentals and decided to weigh-in more on the negative aspects. Fundamentals usually dictate market outcomes so it makes sense to study the company's financials. Specifically, we decided to study Train Alliance Sweden's ROE in this article.

Return on equity or ROE is a key measure used to assess how efficiently a company's management is utilizing the company's capital. Simply put, it is used to assess the profitability of a company in relation to its equity capital.

View our latest analysis for Train Alliance Sweden

How Do You 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 Train Alliance Sweden is:

0.7% = kr8.6m ÷ kr1.3b (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2021).

The 'return' is the income the business earned over the last year. That means that for every SEK1 worth of shareholders' equity, the company generated SEK0.01 in profit.

What Is The Relationship Between ROE And Earnings Growth?

So far, we've learned that ROE is a measure of a company's profitability. 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. Assuming all else is equal, companies that have both a higher return on equity and higher profit retention are usually the ones that have a higher growth rate when compared to companies that don't have the same features.

Train Alliance Sweden's Earnings Growth And 0.7% ROE

It is quite clear that Train Alliance Sweden's ROE is rather low. Not just that, even compared to the industry average of 14%, the company's ROE is entirely unremarkable. For this reason, Train Alliance Sweden's five year net income decline of 8.4% is not surprising given its lower ROE. We reckon that there could also be other factors at play here. For example, the business has allocated capital poorly, or that the company has a very high payout ratio.

So, as a next step, we compared Train Alliance Sweden'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. What investors need to determine next is if the expected earnings growth, or the lack of it, is already built into the share price. Doing so will help them establish if the stock's future looks promising or ominous. Is Train Alliance Sweden fairly valued compared to other companies? These 3 valuation measures might help you decide.

Is Train Alliance Sweden Efficiently Re-investing Its Profits?

While the company did payout a portion of its dividend in the past, it currently doesn't pay a dividend. This implies that potentially all of its profits are being reinvested in the business.

Conclusion

Overall, we have mixed feelings about Train Alliance Sweden. While the company does have a high rate of reinvestment, the low ROE means that all that reinvestment is not reaping any benefit to its investors, and moreover, its having a negative impact on the earnings growth. So far, we've only made a quick discussion around the company's earnings growth. You can do your own research on Train Alliance Sweden and see how it has performed in the past by looking at this FREE detailed graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flows.

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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.