Criteo S.A. (NASDAQ:CRTO) Stock Is Going Strong But Fundamentals Look Uncertain: What Lies Ahead ?

Criteo's (NASDAQ:CRTO) stock is up by a considerable 16% over the past three months. But the company's key financial indicators appear to be differing across the board and that makes us question whether or not the company's current share price momentum can be maintained. Particularly, we will be paying attention to Criteo's ROE today.

Return on Equity or ROE is a test of how effectively a company is growing its value and managing investors’ money. In simpler terms, it measures the profitability of a company in relation to shareholder's equity.

Check out our latest analysis for Criteo

How Do You Calculate Return On Equity?

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 Criteo is:

7.1% = US$82m ÷ US$1.1b (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2021).

The 'return' is the income the business earned over the last year. One way to conceptualize this is that for each $1 of shareholders' capital it has, the company made $0.07 in profit.

What Is The Relationship Between ROE And 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. Assuming all else is equal, companies that have both a higher return on equity and higher profit retention are usually the ones that have a higher growth rate when compared to companies that don't have the same features.

A Side By Side comparison of Criteo's Earnings Growth And 7.1% ROE

At first glance, Criteo's ROE doesn't look very promising. Next, when compared to the average industry ROE of 17%, the company's ROE leaves us feeling even less enthusiastic. As a result, Criteo's flat net income growth over the past five years doesn't come as a surprise given its lower ROE.

We then compared Criteo's net income growth with the industry and found that the company's growth figure is lower than the average industry growth rate of 4.9% in the same period, which is a bit concerning.

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. By doing so, they will have an idea if the stock is headed into clear blue waters or if swampy waters await. What is CRTO worth today? The intrinsic value infographic in our free research report helps visualize whether CRTO is currently mispriced by the market.

Is Criteo Efficiently Re-investing Its Profits?

Summary

On the whole, we feel that the performance shown by Criteo can be open to many interpretations. While the company does have a high rate of profit retention, its low rate of return is probably hampering its earnings growth. With that said, the latest industry analyst forecasts reveal that the company's earnings are expected to accelerate. 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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