Check Point Software Technologies Ltd.'s (NASDAQ:CHKP) Stock On An Uptrend: Could Fundamentals Be Driving The Momentum?
Check Point Software Technologies' (NASDAQ:CHKP) stock is up by a considerable 15% over the past three months. Given that stock prices are usually aligned with a company's financial performance in the long-term, we decided to study its financial indicators more closely to see if they had a hand to play in the recent price move. Specifically, we decided to study Check Point Software Technologies' ROE in this article.
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.
See our latest analysis for Check Point Software Technologies
How To 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 Check Point Software Technologies is:
25% = US$816m ÷ US$3.3b (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 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 $0.25 in profit.
What Is The Relationship Between ROE And 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 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.
A Side By Side comparison of Check Point Software Technologies' Earnings Growth And 25% ROE
To begin with, Check Point Software Technologies has a pretty high ROE which is interesting. Secondly, even when compared to the industry average of 11% the company's ROE is quite impressive. However, for some reason, the higher returns aren't reflected in Check Point Software Technologies' meagre five year net income growth average of 2.1%. That's a bit unexpected from a company which has such a high rate of return. A few likely reasons why this could happen is that the company could have a high payout ratio or the business has allocated capital poorly, for instance.
As a next step, we compared Check Point Software Technologies' net income growth with the industry and were disappointed to see that the company's growth is lower than the industry average growth of 20% 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). Doing so will help them establish if the stock's future looks promising or ominous. Has the market priced in the future outlook for CHKP? You can find out in our latest intrinsic value infographic research report.
Is Check Point Software Technologies Making Efficient Use Of Its Profits?
Check Point Software Technologies doesn't pay any dividend, which means that it is retaining all of its earnings. This doesn't explain the low earnings growth number that we discussed above. So there might be other factors at play here which could potentially be hampering growth. For example, the business has faced some headwinds.
Conclusion
Overall, we feel that Check Point Software Technologies certainly does have some positive factors to consider. However, given the high ROE and high profit retention, we would expect the company to be delivering strong earnings growth, but that isn't the case here. This suggests that there might be some external threat to the business, that's hampering its growth. The latest industry analyst forecasts show that the company is expected to maintain its current growth rate. 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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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.
