Infratil Limited's (NZSE:IFT) Stock Has Fared Decently: Is the Market Following Strong Financials?
Infratil's (NZSE:IFT) stock is up by 9.9% over the past three months. Since the market usually pay for a company’s long-term financial health, we decided to study the company’s fundamentals to see if they could be influencing the market. Specifically, we decided to study Infratil's 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 short, ROE shows the profit each dollar generates with respect to its shareholder investments.
See our latest analysis for Infratil
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 Infratil is:
9.7% = NZ$562m ÷ NZ$5.8b (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2023).
The 'return' is the income the business earned over the last year. One way to conceptualize this is that for each NZ$1 of shareholders' capital it has, the company made NZ$0.10 in profit.
What Is The Relationship Between ROE And Earnings Growth?
We have already established that ROE serves as an efficient profit-generating gauge for a company's future earnings. Depending on how much of these profits the company reinvests or "retains", and how effectively it does so, we are then able to assess a company’s earnings growth potential. 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.
Infratil's Earnings Growth And 9.7% ROE
At first glance, Infratil's ROE doesn't look very promising. However, the fact that the company's ROE is higher than the average industry ROE of 8.0%, is definitely interesting. Consequently, this likely laid the ground for the decent growth of 18% seen over the past five years by Infratil. That being said, the company does have a slightly low ROE to begin with, just that it is higher than the industry average. Therefore, the growth in earnings could also be the result of other factors. E.g the company has a low payout ratio or could belong to a high growth industry.
We then compared Infratil'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 10.0% in the same 5-year period.
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. If you're wondering about Infratil's's valuation, check out this gauge of its price-to-earnings ratio, as compared to its industry.
Is Infratil Using Its Retained Earnings Effectively?
Infratil has a healthy combination of a moderate LTM (or last twelve month) payout ratio of 45% (or a retention ratio of 55%) and a respectable amount of growth in earnings as we saw above, meaning that the company has been making efficient use of its profits.
Besides, Infratil has been paying dividends for at least ten years or more. This shows that the company is committed to sharing profits with its shareholders. Our latest analyst data shows that the future payout ratio of the company is expected to rise to 85% over the next three years. Therefore, the expected rise in the payout ratio explains why the company's ROE is expected to decline to 7.0% over the same period.
Conclusion
In total, we are pretty happy with Infratil's performance. Specifically, we like that it has been reinvesting a high portion of its profits at a moderate rate of return, resulting in earnings expansion. With that said, on studying the latest analyst forecasts, we found that while the company has seen growth in its past earnings, analysts expect its future earnings to shrink. To know more about the company's future earnings growth forecasts take a look at this free report on analyst forecasts for the company to find out more.
Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.
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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