Is Petrol d.d.'s (LJSE:PETG) Latest Stock Performance A Reflection Of Its Financial Health?

Most readers would already be aware that Petrol d.d's (LJSE:PETG) stock increased significantly by 6.0% over the past week. Since the market usually pay for a company’s long-term fundamentals, we decided to study the company’s key performance indicators to see if they could be influencing the market. Particularly, we will be paying attention to Petrol d.d'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. Put another way, it reveals the company's success at turning shareholder investments into profits.

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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 Petrol d.d is:

16% = €158m ÷ €1.0b (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2025).

The 'return' refers to a company's earnings over the last year. Another way to think of that is that for every €1 worth of equity, the company was able to earn €0.16 in profit.

View our latest analysis for Petrol d.d

What Has ROE Got To Do With 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 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.

Petrol d.d's Earnings Growth And 16% ROE

At first glance, Petrol d.d seems to have a decent ROE. Further, the company's ROE compares quite favorably to the industry average of 11%. This certainly adds some context to Petrol d.d's decent 18% net income growth seen over the past five years.

As a next step, we compared Petrol d.d's net income growth with the industry, and pleasingly, we found that the growth seen by the company is higher than the average industry growth of 8.9%.

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. By doing so, they will have an idea if the stock is headed into clear blue waters or if swampy waters await. Is PETG fairly valued? This infographic on the company's intrinsic value has everything you need to know.

Is Petrol d.d Making Efficient Use Of Its Profits?

While Petrol d.d has a three-year median payout ratio of 59% (which means it retains 41% of profits), the company has still seen a fair bit of earnings growth in the past, meaning that its high payout ratio hasn't hampered its ability to grow.

Additionally, Petrol d.d has paid dividends over a period of at least ten years which means that the company is pretty serious about sharing its profits with shareholders. Our latest analyst data shows that the future payout ratio of the company over the next three years is expected to be approximately 60%. As a result, Petrol d.d's ROE is not expected to change by much either, which we inferred from the analyst estimate of 15% for future ROE.

Conclusion

In total, we are pretty happy with Petrol d.d's performance. We are particularly impressed by the considerable earnings growth posted by the company, which was likely backed by its high ROE. While the company is paying out most of its earnings as dividends, it has been able to grow its earnings in spite of it, so that's probably a good sign. Up till now, we've only made a short study of the company's growth data. To gain further insights into Petrol d.d's past profit growth, check out this visualization 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.