Keysight Technologies, Inc.'s (NYSE:KEYS) Stock's On An Uptrend: Are Strong Financials Guiding The Market?

Keysight Technologies (NYSE:KEYS) has had a great run on the share market with its stock up by a significant 21% over the last month. Given that the market rewards strong financials in the long-term, we wonder if that is the case in this instance. In this article, we decided to focus on Keysight Technologies' ROE.

Return on equity or ROE is a key measure used to assess how efficiently a company's management is utilizing the company's capital. In other words, it is a profitability ratio which measures the rate of return on the capital provided by the company's shareholders.

View our latest analysis for Keysight Technologies

How Is ROE Calculated?

The formula for ROE is:

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

So, based on the above formula, the ROE for Keysight Technologies is:

17% = US$913m ÷ US$5.2b (Based on the trailing twelve months to July 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 $0.17 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. 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 Keysight Technologies' Earnings Growth And 17% ROE

At first glance, Keysight Technologies seems to have a decent ROE. Especially when compared to the industry average of 10% the company's ROE looks pretty impressive. This probably laid the ground for Keysight Technologies' moderate 14% net income growth seen over the past five years.

As a next step, we compared Keysight Technologies' net income growth with the industry and found that the company has a similar growth figure when compared with the industry average growth rate of 14% in the same period.

The basis for attaching value to a company is, to a great extent, tied to its earnings growth. 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. Has the market priced in the future outlook for KEYS? You can find out in our latest intrinsic value infographic research report.

Is Keysight Technologies Making Efficient Use Of Its Profits?

Keysight Technologies doesn't pay any regular dividends currently which essentially means that it has been reinvesting all of its profits into the business. This definitely contributes to the decent earnings growth number that we discussed above.

Summary

In total, we are pretty happy with Keysight Technologies' 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. Are these analysts expectations based on the broad expectations for the industry, or on the company's fundamentals? Click here to be taken to our analyst's forecasts page for the company.

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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.