Is Howmet Aerospace Inc.'s (NYSE:HWM) Latest Stock Performance A Reflection Of Its Financial Health?

Most readers would already be aware that Howmet Aerospace's (NYSE:HWM) stock increased significantly by 15% over the past three months. Given the company's impressive performance, we decided to study its financial indicators more closely as a company's financial health over the long-term usually dictates market outcomes. In this article, we decided to focus on Howmet Aerospace's ROE.

Return on Equity or ROE is a test of how effectively a company is growing its value and managing investors’ money. In other words, it is a profitability ratio which measures the rate of return on the capital provided by the company's shareholders.

See our latest analysis for Howmet Aerospace

How To Calculate Return On Equity?

ROE 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 Howmet Aerospace is:

25% = US$1.2b ÷ US$4.6b (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2024).

The 'return' is the income the business earned over the last year. So, this means that for every $1 of its shareholder's investments, the company generates a profit of $0.25.

What Has ROE Got To Do With Earnings Growth?

We have already established that ROE serves as an efficient profit-generating gauge for a company's future earnings. 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 Howmet Aerospace's Earnings Growth And 25% ROE

Firstly, we acknowledge that Howmet Aerospace has a significantly high ROE. Second, a comparison with the average ROE reported by the industry of 12% also doesn't go unnoticed by us. So, the substantial 40% net income growth seen by Howmet Aerospace over the past five years isn't overly surprising.

Next, on comparing with the industry net income growth, we found that Howmet Aerospace's growth is quite high when compared to the industry average growth of 12% in the same period, which is great to see.

Earnings growth is a huge factor in stock valuation. The investor should try to establish if the expected growth or decline in earnings, whichever the case may be, is priced in. Doing so will help them establish if the stock's future looks promising or ominous. What is HWM worth today? The intrinsic value infographic in our free research report helps visualize whether HWM is currently mispriced by the market.

Is Howmet Aerospace Making Efficient Use Of Its Profits?

Howmet Aerospace's ' three-year median payout ratio is on the lower side at 8.9% implying that it is retaining a higher percentage (91%) of its profits. This suggests that the management is reinvesting most of the profits to grow the business as evidenced by the growth seen by the company.

Besides, Howmet Aerospace has been paying dividends over a period of eight years. This shows that the company is committed to sharing profits with its shareholders. Looking at the current analyst consensus data, we can see that the company's future payout ratio is expected to rise to 13% over the next three years. Still, forecasts suggest that Howmet Aerospace's future ROE will rise to 33% even though the the company's payout ratio is expected to rise. We presume that there could some other characteristics of the business that could be driving the anticipated growth in the company's ROE.

Summary

In total, we are pretty happy with Howmet Aerospace's performance. In particular, it's great to see that the company is investing heavily into its business and along with a high rate of return, that has resulted in a sizeable growth in its earnings. Having said that, the company's earnings growth is expected to slow down, as forecasted in the current analyst estimates. 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.