Is Fortinet, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:FTNT) Stock's Recent Performance Being Led By Its Attractive Financial Prospects?
Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) has had a great run on the share market with its stock up by a significant 34% over the last three months. Since the market usually pay for a company’s long-term fundamentals, we decided to study the company’s key performance indicators to see if they could be influencing the market. Particularly, we will be paying attention to Fortinet'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. In simpler terms, it measures the profitability of a company in relation to shareholder's equity.
View our latest analysis for Fortinet
How Do You Calculate Return On Equity?
Return on equity can be calculated by using the formula:
Return on Equity = Net Profit (from continuing operations) ÷ Shareholders' Equity
So, based on the above formula, the ROE for Fortinet is:
57% = US$489m ÷ US$856m (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2020).
The 'return' refers to a company's earnings over the last year. One way to conceptualize this is that for each $1 of shareholders' capital it has, the company made $0.57 in profit.
What Is The Relationship Between ROE And 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 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.
Fortinet's Earnings Growth And 57% ROE
Firstly, we acknowledge that Fortinet has a significantly high ROE. Additionally, the company's ROE is higher compared to the industry average of 15% which is quite remarkable. Under the circumstances, Fortinet's considerable five year net income growth of 56% was to be expected.
As a next step, we compared Fortinet's net income growth with the industry, and pleasingly, we found that the growth seen by the company is higher than the average industry growth of 30%.
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. By doing so, they will have an idea if the stock is headed into clear blue waters or if swampy waters await. Is FTNT fairly valued? This infographic on the company's intrinsic value has everything you need to know.
Is Fortinet Using Its Retained Earnings Effectively?
Summary
In total, we are pretty happy with Fortinet's performance. Particularly, we like that the company is reinvesting heavily into its business, and at a high rate of return. Unsurprisingly, this has led to an impressive earnings growth. 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 latest analysts predictions for the company, check out this visualization of analyst forecasts 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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