Pilgrim's Pride Corporation's (NASDAQ:PPC) Stock's On An Uptrend: Are Strong Financials Guiding The Market?

Pilgrim's Pride's (NASDAQ:PPC) stock is up by a considerable 16% 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. Specifically, we decided to study Pilgrim's Pride's ROE in this article.

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 Pilgrim's Pride

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 Pilgrim's Pride is:

23% = US$986m ÷ US$4.2b (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2024).

The 'return' is the yearly profit. Another way to think of that is that for every $1 worth of equity, the company was able to earn $0.23 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. 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 Pilgrim's Pride's Earnings Growth And 23% ROE

To begin with, Pilgrim's Pride has a pretty high ROE which is interesting. Second, a comparison with the average ROE reported by the industry of 11% also doesn't go unnoticed by us. Under the circumstances, Pilgrim's Pride's considerable five year net income growth of 22% was to be expected.

Next, on comparing with the industry net income growth, we found that Pilgrim's Pride's growth is quite high when compared to the industry average growth of 7.8% in the same period, which is great to see.

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. Is PPC fairly valued? This infographic on the company's intrinsic value has everything you need to know.

Is Pilgrim's Pride Using Its Retained Earnings Effectively?

Pilgrim's Pride doesn't pay any regular dividends to its shareholders, meaning that the company has been reinvesting all of its profits into the business. This is likely what's driving the high earnings growth number discussed above.

Summary

In total, we are pretty happy with Pilgrim's Pride's performance. Particularly, we like that the company is reinvesting heavily into its business, and at a high rate of return. Unsurprisingly, this has led to an impressive 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.