Anpario plc's (LON:ANP) Financials Are Too Obscure To Link With Current Share Price Momentum: What's In Store For the Stock?
Anpario's (LON:ANP) stock is up by a considerable 18% over the past three months. However, we decided to pay attention to the company's fundamentals which don't appear to give a clear sign about the company's financial health. Particularly, we will be paying attention to Anpario's ROE today.
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. Put another way, it reveals the company's success at turning shareholder investments into profits.
Check out our latest analysis for Anpario
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 Anpario is:
5.6% = UK£2.4m ÷ UK£43m (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2023).
The 'return' refers to a company's earnings over the last year. Another way to think of that is that for every £1 worth of equity, the company was able to earn £0.06 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. Generally speaking, other things being equal, firms with a high return on equity and profit retention, have a higher growth rate than firms that don’t share these attributes.
Anpario's Earnings Growth And 5.6% ROE
At first glance, Anpario's ROE doesn't look very promising. However, given that the company's ROE is similar to the average industry ROE of 6.9%, we may spare it some thought. Having said that, Anpario's net income growth over the past five years is more or less flat. Bear in mind, the company's ROE is not very high. Hence, this provides some context to the flat earnings growth seen by the company.
We then compared Anpario's net income growth with the industry and found that the average industry growth rate was 5.9% in the same 5-year 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). Doing so will help them establish if the stock's future looks promising or ominous. Has the market priced in the future outlook for ANP? You can find out in our latest intrinsic value infographic research report.
Is Anpario Efficiently Re-investing Its Profits?
In spite of a normal three-year median payout ratio of 45% (or a retention ratio of 55%), Anpario hasn't seen much growth in its earnings. Therefore, there might be some other reasons to explain the lack in that respect. For example, the business could be in decline.
Moreover, Anpario has been paying dividends for at least ten years or more suggesting that management must have perceived that the shareholders prefer dividends over earnings growth. Upon studying the latest analysts' consensus data, we found that the company's future payout ratio is expected to rise to 67% over the next three years.
Summary
In total, we're a bit ambivalent about Anpario's performance. While the company does have a high rate of profit retention, its low rate of return is probably hampering its earnings growth. Until now, we have only just grazed the surface of the company's past performance by looking at the company's fundamentals. To gain further insights into Anpario's past profit growth, check out this visualization of past earnings, revenue and cash flows.
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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.
