Jounce Therapeutics, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:JNCE) Stock Has Been Sliding But Fundamentals Look Strong: Is The Market Wrong?
Jounce Therapeutics (NASDAQ:JNCE) has had a rough three months with its share price down 30%. However, a closer look at its sound financials might cause you to think again. Given that fundamentals usually drive long-term market outcomes, the company is worth looking at. Specifically, we decided to study Jounce Therapeutics' ROE in this article.
ROE or return on equity is a useful tool to assess how effectively a company can generate returns on the investment it received from its shareholders. In simpler terms, it measures the profitability of a company in relation to shareholder's equity.
Check out our latest analysis for Jounce Therapeutics
How To 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 Jounce Therapeutics is:
33% = US$57m ÷ US$175m (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2019).
The 'return' is the amount earned after tax over the last twelve months. Another way to think of that is that for every $1 worth of equity, the company was able to earn $0.33 in profit.
What Is The Relationship Between ROE And Earnings Growth?
So far, we've learnt that ROE is a measure of a company's profitability. 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 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.
Jounce Therapeutics' Earnings Growth And 33% ROE
Firstly, we acknowledge that Jounce Therapeutics has a significantly high ROE. Additionally, the company's ROE is higher compared to the industry average of 19% which is quite remarkable. So, the substantial 30% net income growth seen by Jounce Therapeutics over the past five years isn't overly surprising.
We then compared Jounce Therapeutics' 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 24% in the same period.
The basis for attaching value to a company is, to a great extent, tied to its earnings growth. It’s important for an investor to know whether the market has priced in the company's expected earnings growth (or decline). This then helps them determine if the stock is placed for a bright or bleak future. If you're wondering about Jounce Therapeutics''s valuation, check out this gauge of its price-to-earnings ratio, as compared to its industry.
Is Jounce Therapeutics Efficiently Re-investing Its Profits?
Jounce Therapeutics doesn't pay any dividend currently which essentially means that it has been reinvesting all of its profits into the business. This definitely contributes to the high earnings growth number that we discussed above.
Summary
On the whole, we feel that Jounce Therapeutics' performance has been quite good. 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, on studying current analyst estimates, we were concerned to see that while the company has grown its earnings in the past, analysts expect its earnings to shrink in the future. 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.
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