Is Kelly Partners Group Holdings Limited's (ASX:KPG) Latest Stock Performance A Reflection Of Its Financial Health?

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Kelly Partners Group Holdings (ASX:KPG) has had a great run on the share market with its stock up by a significant 30% over the last three months. Given the company's impressive performance, we decided to study its financial indicators more closely as a company's financial health over the long-term usually dictates market outcomes. Specifically, we decided to study Kelly Partners Group Holdings' ROE in this article.

Return on Equity or ROE is a test of how effectively a company is growing its value and managing investors’ money. In simpler terms, it measures the profitability of a company in relation to shareholder's equity.

View our latest analysis for Kelly Partners Group Holdings

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 Kelly Partners Group Holdings is:

45% = AU$10m ÷ AU$23m (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2020).

The 'return' is the yearly profit. One way to conceptualize this is that for each A$1 of shareholders' capital it has, the company made A$0.45 in profit.

Why Is ROE Important For Earnings Growth?

We have already established that ROE serves as an efficient profit-generating gauge for a company's future earnings. 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 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.

A Side By Side comparison of Kelly Partners Group Holdings' Earnings Growth And 45% ROE

Firstly, we acknowledge that Kelly Partners Group Holdings has a significantly high ROE. Secondly, even when compared to the industry average of 15% the company's ROE is quite impressive. So, the substantial 34% net income growth seen by Kelly Partners Group Holdings over the past five years isn't overly surprising.

As a next step, we compared Kelly Partners Group Holdings' 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 10%.

past-earnings-growth
past-earnings-growth

Earnings growth is an important metric to consider when valuing a stock. It’s important for an investor to know whether the market has priced in the company's expected earnings growth (or decline). Doing so will help them establish if the stock's future looks promising or ominous. If you're wondering about Kelly Partners Group Holdings''s valuation, check out this gauge of its price-to-earnings ratio, as compared to its industry.

Is Kelly Partners Group Holdings Using Its Retained Earnings Effectively?

Kelly Partners Group Holdings has a significant three-year median payout ratio of 56%, meaning the company only retains 44% of its income. This implies that the company has been able to achieve high earnings growth despite returning most of its profits to shareholders.

Moreover, Kelly Partners Group Holdings is determined to keep sharing its profits with shareholders which we infer from its long history of three years of paying a dividend. Our latest analyst data shows that the future payout ratio of the company over the next three years is expected to be approximately 48%. However, Kelly Partners Group Holdings' ROE is predicted to rise to 113% despite there being no anticipated change in its payout ratio.

Conclusion

On the whole, we feel that Kelly Partners Group Holdings' performance has been quite good. In particular, its high ROE is quite noteworthy and also the probable explanation behind its considerable earnings growth. Yet, the company is retaining a small portion of its profits. Which means that the company has been able to grow its earnings in spite of it, so that's not too bad. We also studied the latest analyst forecasts and found that the company's earnings growth is expected be similar to its current growth rate. 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.

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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