Incyte Corporation's (NASDAQ:INCY) Stock Has Been Sliding But Fundamentals Look Strong: Is The Market Wrong?
Incyte (NASDAQ:INCY) has had a rough three months with its share price down 12%. However, stock prices are usually driven by a company’s financial performance over the long term, which in this case looks quite promising. Particularly, we will be paying attention to Incyte'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 other words, it is a profitability ratio which measures the rate of return on the capital provided by the company's shareholders.
Check out our latest analysis for Incyte
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 Incyte is:
23% = US$945m ÷ US$4.1b (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2022).
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 $0.23 in profit.
Why Is ROE Important For 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 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 Incyte's Earnings Growth And 23% ROE
Firstly, we acknowledge that Incyte has a significantly high ROE. Additionally, a comparison with the average industry ROE of 23% also portrays the company's ROE in a good light. Therefore, it might not be wrong to say that the impressive five year 50% net income growth seen by Incyte was probably achieved as a result of the high ROE.
We then compared Incyte's net income growth with the industry and we're pleased to see that the company's growth figure is higher when compared with the industry which has a growth rate of 21% in the same period.
Earnings growth is an important metric to consider when valuing a stock. The investor should try to establish if the expected growth or decline in earnings, whichever the case may be, is priced in. This then helps them determine if the stock is placed for a bright or bleak future. One good indicator of expected earnings growth is the P/E ratio which determines the price the market is willing to pay for a stock based on its earnings prospects. So, you may want to check if Incyte is trading on a high P/E or a low P/E, relative to its industry.
Is Incyte Efficiently Re-investing Its Profits?
Given that Incyte doesn't pay any dividend to its shareholders, we infer that the company has been reinvesting all of its profits to grow its business.
Conclusion
Overall, we are quite pleased with Incyte's performance. Specifically, we like that the company is reinvesting a huge chunk of its profits at a high rate of return. This of course has caused the company to see substantial growth in its earnings. That being so, a study of the latest analyst forecasts show that the company is expected to see a slowdown in its future earnings growth. 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.
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