Can Mixed Fundamentals Have A Negative Impact on La-Z-Boy Incorporated (NYSE:LZB) Current Share Price Momentum?

La-Z-Boy's (NYSE:LZB) stock is up by a considerable 16% over the past three months. However, we wonder if the company's inconsistent financials would have any adverse impact on the current share price momentum. Specifically, we decided to study La-Z-Boy'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 La-Z-Boy

How Is ROE Calculated?

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 La-Z-Boy is:

9.2% = US$66m ÷ US$715m (Based on the trailing twelve months to July 2020).

The 'return' refers to a company's earnings over the last year. That means that for every $1 worth of shareholders' equity, the company generated $0.09 in profit.

What Is The Relationship Between ROE And Earnings Growth?

Thus far, we have learned that ROE measures how efficiently a company is generating its profits. Depending on how much of these profits the company reinvests or "retains", and how effectively it does so, we are then able to assess a company’s earnings growth potential. 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 La-Z-Boy's Earnings Growth And 9.2% ROE

At first glance, La-Z-Boy's ROE doesn't look very promising. We then compared the company's ROE to the broader industry and were disappointed to see that the ROE is lower than the industry average of 16%. As a result, La-Z-Boy's flat net income growth over the past five years doesn't come as a surprise given its lower ROE.

As a next step, we compared La-Z-Boy's net income growth with the industry and discovered that the industry saw an average growth of 19% in the same period.

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. If you're wondering about La-Z-Boy's's valuation, check out this gauge of its price-to-earnings ratio, as compared to its industry.

Is La-Z-Boy Making Efficient Use Of Its Profits?

While the company did pay out a portion of its dividend in the past, it currently doesn't pay a dividend. We infer that the company has been reinvesting all of its profits to grow its business.

Our latest analyst data shows that the future payout ratio of the company is expected to drop to 15% over the next three years. As a result, the expected drop in La-Z-Boy's payout ratio explains the anticipated rise in the company's future ROE to 14%, over the same period.

Conclusion

On the whole, we feel that the performance shown by La-Z-Boy can be open to many interpretations. Even though it appears to be retaining most of its profits, given the low ROE, investors may not be benefitting from all that reinvestment after all. The low earnings growth suggests our theory correct. That being so, the latest industry analyst forecasts show that the analysts are expecting to see a huge improvement in the company's earnings growth rate. To know more about the latest analysts predictions for the company, check out this visualization of analyst forecasts for the company.

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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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