Advertisement
U.S. markets close in 24 minutes
  • S&P 500

    5,261.04
    +12.55 (+0.24%)
     
  • Dow 30

    39,830.91
    +70.83 (+0.18%)
     
  • Nasdaq

    16,397.12
    -2.40 (-0.01%)
     
  • Russell 2000

    2,123.75
    +9.40 (+0.44%)
     
  • Crude Oil

    83.08
    +1.73 (+2.13%)
     
  • Gold

    2,240.80
    +28.10 (+1.27%)
     
  • Silver

    24.97
    +0.22 (+0.88%)
     
  • EUR/USD

    1.0791
    -0.0039 (-0.36%)
     
  • 10-Yr Bond

    4.2060
    +0.0100 (+0.24%)
     
  • GBP/USD

    1.2622
    -0.0016 (-0.13%)
     
  • USD/JPY

    151.4020
    +0.1560 (+0.10%)
     
  • Bitcoin USD

    70,874.58
    +2,343.20 (+3.42%)
     
  • CMC Crypto 200

    885.54
    0.00 (0.00%)
     
  • FTSE 100

    7,952.62
    +20.64 (+0.26%)
     
  • Nikkei 225

    40,168.07
    -594.66 (-1.46%)
     

Should You Be Impressed By Auckland International Airport Limited’s (NZSE:AIA) ROE?

One of the best investments we can make is in our own knowledge and skill set. With that in mind, this article will work through how we can use Return On Equity (ROE) to better understand a business. To keep the lesson grounded in practicality, we’ll use ROE to better understand Auckland International Airport Limited (NZSE:AIA).

Over the last twelve months Auckland International Airport has recorded a ROE of 11%. One way to conceptualize this, is that for each NZ$1 of shareholders’ equity it has, the company made NZ$0.11 in profit.

View our latest analysis for Auckland International Airport

How Do I Calculate ROE?

The formula for return on equity is:

Return on Equity = Net Profit ÷ Shareholders’ Equity

Or for Auckland International Airport:

11% = 650.1 ÷ NZ$5.7b (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2018.)

It’s easy to understand the ‘net profit’ part of that equation, but ‘shareholders’ equity’ requires further explanation. It is all the money paid into the company from shareholders, plus any earnings retained. Shareholders’ equity can be calculated by subtracting the total liabilities of the company from the total assets of the company.

What Does ROE Signify?

Return on Equity measures a company’s profitability against the profit it has kept for the business (plus any capital injections). The ‘return’ is the yearly profit. A higher profit will lead to a higher ROE. So, all else being equal, a high ROE is better than a low one. Clearly, then, one can use ROE to compare different companies.

Does Auckland International Airport Have A Good ROE?

One simple way to determine if a company has a good return on equity is to compare it to the average for its industry. The limitation of this approach is that some companies are quite different from others, even within the same industry classification. As you can see in the graphic below, Auckland International Airport has a higher ROE than the average (7.8%) in the infrastructure industry.

NZSE:AIA Last Perf November 29th 18
NZSE:AIA Last Perf November 29th 18

That’s what I like to see. We think a high ROE, alone, is usually enough to justify further research into a company. For example, I often check if insiders have been buying shares .

How Does Debt Impact ROE?

Virtually all companies need money to invest in the business, to grow profits. That cash can come from issuing shares, retained earnings, or debt. In the first and second cases, the ROE will reflect this use of cash for investment in the business. In the latter case, the debt used for growth will improve returns, but won’t affect the total equity. That will make the ROE look better than if no debt was used.

Combining Auckland International Airport’s Debt And Its 11% Return On Equity

Although Auckland International Airport does use debt, its debt to equity ratio of 0.37 is still low. I’m not impressed with its ROE, but the debt levels are not too high, indicating the business has decent prospects. Conservative use of debt to boost returns is usually a good move for shareholders, though it does leave the company more exposed to interest rate rises.

But It’s Just One Metric

Return on equity is one way we can compare the business quality of different companies. A company that can achieve a high return on equity without debt could be considered a high quality business. All else being equal, a higher ROE is better.

But when a business is high quality, the market often bids it up to a price that reflects this. It is important to consider other factors, such as future profit growth — and how much investment is required going forward. So you might want to check this FREE visualization of analyst forecasts for the company.

Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking elsewhere. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies.

To help readers see past the short term volatility of the financial market, we aim to bring you a long-term focused research analysis purely driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis does not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements.

The author is an independent contributor and at the time of publication had no position in the stocks mentioned. For errors that warrant correction please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com.

Advertisement