McGrath RentCorp's (NASDAQ:MGRC) Stock's On An Uptrend: Are Strong Financials Guiding The Market?

McGrath RentCorp (NASDAQ:MGRC) has had a great run on the share market with its stock up by a significant 29% over the last 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. Specifically, we decided to study McGrath RentCorp'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. Simply put, it is used to assess the profitability of a company in relation to its equity capital.

See our latest analysis for McGrath RentCorp

How Do You Calculate Return On Equity?

The formula for ROE is:

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

So, based on the above formula, the ROE for McGrath RentCorp is:

15% = US$97m ÷ US$662m (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2020).

The 'return' is the income the business earned over the last year. That means that for every $1 worth of shareholders' equity, the company generated $0.15 in profit.

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. 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 McGrath RentCorp's Earnings Growth And 15% ROE

To start with, McGrath RentCorp's ROE looks acceptable. Further, the company's ROE compares quite favorably to the industry average of 10.0%. This probably laid the ground for McGrath RentCorp's moderate 19% net income growth seen over the past five years.

As a next step, we compared McGrath RentCorp'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 11%.

Earnings growth is a huge factor in stock valuation. What investors need to determine next is if the expected earnings growth, or the lack of it, is already built into the share price. This then helps them determine if the stock is placed for a bright or bleak future. Is MGRC fairly valued? This infographic on the company's intrinsic value has everything you need to know.

Is McGrath RentCorp Making Efficient Use Of Its Profits?

McGrath RentCorp has a three-year median payout ratio of 38%, which implies that it retains the remaining 62% of its profits. This suggests that its dividend is well covered, and given the decent growth seen by the company, it looks like management is reinvesting its earnings efficiently.

Besides, McGrath RentCorp has been paying dividends for at least ten years or more. This shows that the company is committed to sharing profits with its shareholders. Upon studying the latest analysts' consensus data, we found that the company is expected to keep paying out approximately 38% of its profits over the next three years. Accordingly, forecasts suggest that McGrath RentCorp's future ROE will be 16% which is again, similar to the current ROE.

Conclusion

Overall, we are quite pleased with McGrath RentCorp's performance. Specifically, we like that the company is reinvesting a huge chunk of its profits at a high rate of return. This of course has caused the company to see substantial growth in its earnings. With that said, the latest industry analyst forecasts reveal that the company's earnings growth is expected to slow down. To know more about the company's future earnings growth forecasts take a look at this free report on analyst forecasts for the company to find out more.

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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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