Becton, Dickinson and Company's (NYSE:BDX) Stock Has Shown A Decent Performance: Have Financials A Role To Play?
Becton Dickinson's (NYSE:BDX) stock up by 4.4% over the past month. As most would know, long-term fundamentals have a strong correlation with market price movements, so we decided to look at the company's key financial indicators today to determine if they have any role to play in the recent price movement. In this article, we decided to focus on Becton Dickinson's ROE.
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.
View our latest analysis for Becton Dickinson
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 Becton Dickinson is:
6.2% = US$1.6b ÷ US$25b (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2022).
The 'return' is the amount earned after tax over the last twelve months. One way to conceptualize this is that for each $1 of shareholders' capital it has, the company made $0.06 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 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 Becton Dickinson's Earnings Growth And 6.2% ROE
At first glance, Becton Dickinson's ROE doesn't look very promising. Next, when compared to the average industry ROE of 11%, the company's ROE leaves us feeling even less enthusiastic. In spite of this, Becton Dickinson was able to grow its net income considerably, at a rate of 29% in the last five years. We reckon that there could be other factors at play here. For instance, the company has a low payout ratio or is being managed efficiently.
Next, on comparing with the industry net income growth, we found that Becton Dickinson's growth is quite high when compared to the industry average growth of 14% in the same period, which is great to see.
The basis for attaching value to a company is, to a great extent, tied to its earnings growth. 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. What is BDX worth today? The intrinsic value infographic in our free research report helps visualize whether BDX is currently mispriced by the market.
Is Becton Dickinson Making Efficient Use Of Its Profits?
Becton Dickinson has a significant three-year median payout ratio of 67%, meaning the company only retains 33% of its income. This implies that the company has been able to achieve high earnings growth despite returning most of its profits to shareholders.
Additionally, Becton Dickinson has paid dividends over a period of at least ten years which means that the company is pretty serious about sharing its profits with shareholders. Our latest analyst data shows that the future payout ratio of the company is expected to drop to 27% over the next three years. As a result, the expected drop in Becton Dickinson's payout ratio explains the anticipated rise in the company's future ROE to 15%, over the same period.
Summary
Overall, we feel that Becton Dickinson certainly does have some positive factors to consider. Namely, its high earnings growth. We do however feel that the earnings growth number could have been even higher, had the company been reinvesting more of its earnings and paid out less dividends. Having said that, the company's earnings growth is expected to slow down, as forecasted in the current analyst estimates. 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.
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