Can Manhattan Bridge Capital Inc’s (LOAN) ROE Continue To Surpass The Industry Average?
Manhattan Bridge Capital Inc (NASDAQ:LOAN) delivered an ROE of 14.72% over the past 12 months, which is an impressive feat relative to its industry average of 12.76% during the same period. On the surface, this looks fantastic since we know that LOAN has made large profits from little equity capital; however, ROE doesn’t tell us if management have borrowed heavily to make this happen. We’ll take a closer look today at factors like financial leverage to determine whether LOAN’s ROE is actually sustainable. View our latest analysis for Manhattan Bridge Capital
What you must know about ROE
Firstly, Return on Equity, or ROE, is simply the percentage of last years’ earning against the book value of shareholders’ equity. For example, if LOAN invests $1 in the form of equity, it will generate $0.15 in earnings from this. While a higher ROE is preferred in most cases, there are several other factors we should consider before drawing any conclusions.
Return on Equity = Net Profit ÷ Shareholders Equity
ROE is assessed against cost of equity, which is measured using the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) – but let’s not dive into the details of that today. For now, let’s just look at the cost of equity number for LOAN, which is 8.49%. This means LOAN returns enough to cover its own cost of equity, with a buffer of 6.23%. This sustainable practice implies that the company pays less for its capital than what it generates in return. ROE can be broken down into three different ratios: net profit margin, asset turnover, and financial leverage. This is called the Dupont Formula:
Dupont Formula
ROE = profit margin × asset turnover × financial leverage
ROE = (annual net profit ÷ sales) × (sales ÷ assets) × (assets ÷ shareholders’ equity)
ROE = annual net profit ÷ shareholders’ equity
The first component is profit margin, which measures how much of sales is retained after the company pays for all its expenses. Asset turnover reveals how much revenue can be generated from LOAN’s asset base. The most interesting ratio, and reflective of sustainability of its ROE, is financial leverage. Since ROE can be inflated by excessive debt, we need to examine LOAN’s debt-to-equity level. Currently the debt-to-equity ratio stands at a reasonable 80.58%, which means its above-average ROE is driven by its ability to grow its profit without a significant debt burden.
What this means for you:
Are you a shareholder? LOAN exhibits a strong ROE against its peers, as well as sufficient returns to cover its cost of equity. Since its high ROE is not likely driven by high debt, it might be a good time to top up on your current holdings if your fundamental research reaffirms this analysis.
Are you a potential investor? If you are considering investing in LOAN, basing your decision on ROE alone is certainly not sufficient. I recommend you do additional fundamental analysis by looking through our most recent infographic report on Manhattan Bridge Capital to help you make a more informed investment decision. If you are not interested in LOAN anymore, you can use our free platform to see our list of stocks with Return on Equity over 20%.
To help readers see pass 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.
