Should Weakness in Civeo Corporation's (NYSE:CVEO) Stock Be Seen As A Sign That Market Will Correct The Share Price Given Decent Financials?

With its stock down 14% over the past month, it is easy to disregard Civeo (NYSE:CVEO). However, the company's fundamentals look pretty decent, and long-term financials are usually aligned with future market price movements. Specifically, we decided to study Civeo's ROE in this article.

Return on equity or ROE is an important factor to be considered by a shareholder because it tells them how effectively their capital is being reinvested. In short, ROE shows the profit each dollar generates with respect to its shareholder investments.

See our latest analysis for Civeo

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 Civeo is:

10% = US$31m ÷ US$300m (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2024).

The 'return' is the profit over the last twelve months. So, this means that for every $1 of its shareholder's investments, the company generates a profit of $0.10.

What Has ROE Got To Do With 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. 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.

Civeo's Earnings Growth And 10% ROE

At first glance, Civeo's ROE doesn't look very promising. However, its ROE is similar to the industry average of 10%, so we won't completely dismiss the company. Moreover, we are quite pleased to see that Civeo's net income grew significantly at a rate of 58% over the last five years. Taking into consideration that the ROE is not particularly high, we reckon that there could also be other factors at play which could be influencing the company's growth. Such as - high earnings retention or an efficient management in place.

As a next step, we compared Civeo'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 9.4%.

Earnings growth is an important metric to consider when valuing a stock. It’s important for an investor to know whether the market has priced in the company's expected earnings growth (or decline). By doing so, they will have an idea if the stock is headed into clear blue waters or if swampy waters await. One good indicator of expected earnings growth is the P/E ratio which determines the price the market is willing to pay for a stock based on its earnings prospects. So, you may want to check if Civeo is trading on a high P/E or a low P/E, relative to its industry.

Is Civeo Using Its Retained Earnings Effectively?

Civeo has a really low three-year median payout ratio of 25%, meaning that it has the remaining 75% left over to reinvest into its business. 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, Civeo has been paying dividends for at least ten years or more. This shows that the company is committed to sharing profits with its shareholders.

Summary

In total, it does look like Civeo has some positive aspects to its business. Despite its low rate of return, the fact that the company reinvests a very high portion of its profits into its business, no doubt contributed to its high earnings growth. With that said, on studying the latest analyst forecasts, we found that while the company has seen growth in its past earnings, analysts expect its future earnings to shrink. 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. 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.