Is Anexo Group Plc's (LON:ANX) Recent Performance Tethered To Its Attractive Financial Prospects?
Anexo Group's (LON:ANX) stock is up by 3.2% over the past three months. Since the market usually pay for a company’s long-term financial health, we decided to study the company’s fundamentals to see if they could be influencing the market. In this article, we decided to focus on Anexo Group's ROE.
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 other words, it is a profitability ratio which measures the rate of return on the capital provided by the company's shareholders.
Check out our latest analysis for Anexo Group
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 Anexo Group is:
14% = UK£15m ÷ UK£104m (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 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 £0.14 in profit.
What Has ROE Got To Do With Earnings Growth?
We have already established that ROE serves as an efficient profit-generating gauge for a company's future earnings. 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 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.
Anexo Group's Earnings Growth And 14% ROE
At first glance, Anexo Group seems to have a decent ROE. Even when compared to the industry average of 13% the company's ROE looks quite decent. This probably goes some way in explaining Anexo Group's moderate 12% growth over the past five years amongst other factors.
Next, on comparing Anexo Group's net income growth with the industry, we found that the company's reported growth is similar to the industry average growth rate of 12% in the same period.
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). This then helps them determine if the stock is placed for a bright or bleak future. 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 Anexo Group is trading on a high P/E or a low P/E, relative to its industry.
Is Anexo Group Using Its Retained Earnings Effectively?
Anexo Group's three-year median payout ratio to shareholders is 14% (implying that it retains 86% of its income), which is on the lower side, so it seems like the management is reinvesting profits heavily to grow its business.
While Anexo Group has been growing its earnings, it only recently started to pay dividends which likely means that the company decided to impress new and existing shareholders with a dividend. Existing analyst estimates suggest that the company's future payout ratio is expected to drop to 11% over the next three years. However, the company's ROE is not expected to change by much despite the lower expected payout ratio.
Summary
In total, we are pretty happy with Anexo Group's 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 are expected to accelerate. 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.
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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