Does Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc.'s (NYSE:HE) Weak Fundamentals Mean That The Market Could Correct Its Share Price?
Hawaiian Electric Industries (NYSE:HE) has had a great run on the share market with its stock up by a significant 22% over the last three months. However, we decided to pay close attention to its weak financials as we are doubtful that the current momentum will keep up, given the scenario. Particularly, we will be paying attention to Hawaiian Electric Industries' 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. In short, ROE shows the profit each dollar generates with respect to its shareholder investments.
View our latest analysis for Hawaiian Electric Industries
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 Hawaiian Electric Industries is:
8.3% = US$198m ÷ US$2.4b (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2020).
The 'return' refers to a company's earnings over the last year. So, this means that for every $1 of its shareholder's investments, the company generates a profit of $0.08.
What Has ROE Got To Do With Earnings Growth?
So far, we've learned that ROE is a measure of a company's profitability. 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.
Hawaiian Electric Industries' Earnings Growth And 8.3% ROE
On the face of it, Hawaiian Electric Industries' ROE is not much to talk about. However, given that the company's ROE is similar to the average industry ROE of 9.4%, we may spare it some thought. Still, Hawaiian Electric Industries has seen a flat net income growth over the past five years. Remember, the company's ROE is not particularly great to begin with. Hence, this provides some context to the flat earnings growth seen by the company.
Next, on comparing with the industry net income growth, we found that Hawaiian Electric Industries' reported growth was lower than the industry growth of 6.9% in the same period, which is not something we like to see.
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. Doing so will help them establish if the stock's future looks promising or ominous. Is Hawaiian Electric Industries fairly valued compared to other companies? These 3 valuation measures might help you decide.
Is Hawaiian Electric Industries Using Its Retained Earnings Effectively?
Hawaiian Electric Industries has a high three-year median payout ratio of 68% (or a retention ratio of 32%), meaning that the company is paying most of its profits as dividends to its shareholders. This does go some way in explaining why there's been no growth in its earnings.
Moreover, Hawaiian Electric Industries 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 is expected to keep paying out approximately 66% of its profits over the next three years. Therefore, the company's future ROE is also not expected to change by much with analysts predicting an ROE of 9.8%.
Summary
On the whole, Hawaiian Electric Industries' performance is quite a big let-down. As a result of its low ROE and lack of mich reinvestment into the business, the company has seen a disappointing earnings growth rate. That being so, the latest analyst forecasts show that the company will continue to see an expansion in its earnings. 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.
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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