MP Materials Corp.'s (NYSE:MP) Fundamentals Look Pretty Strong: Could The Market Be Wrong About The Stock?
With its stock down 9.9% over the past month, it is easy to disregard MP Materials (NYSE:MP). But if you pay close attention, you might gather that its strong financials could mean that the stock could potentially see an increase in value in the long-term, given how markets usually reward companies with good financial health. Particularly, we will be paying attention to MP Materials' ROE today.
Return on equity or ROE is a key measure used to assess how efficiently a company's management is utilizing the company's capital. In simpler terms, it measures the profitability of a company in relation to shareholder's equity.
View our latest analysis for MP Materials
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 MP Materials is:
19% = US$204m ÷ US$1.1b (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2022).
The 'return' is the income the business earned over the last year. That means that for every $1 worth of shareholders' equity, the company generated $0.19 in profit.
Why Is ROE Important For Earnings Growth?
So far, we've learned that ROE is a measure of a company's profitability. We now need to evaluate how much profit the company reinvests or "retains" for future growth which then gives us an idea about the growth potential of the company. 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.
MP Materials' Earnings Growth And 19% ROE
To start with, MP Materials' ROE looks acceptable. And on comparing with the industry, we found that the the average industry ROE is similar at 22%. Consequently, this likely laid the ground for the impressive net income growth of 106% seen over the past five years by MP Materials. We believe that there might also be other aspects that are positively influencing the company's earnings growth. For instance, the company has a low payout ratio or is being managed efficiently.
As a next step, we compared MP Materials' 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 23%.
Earnings growth is a huge factor in stock valuation. 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. Has the market priced in the future outlook for MP? You can find out in our latest intrinsic value infographic research report.
Is MP Materials Making Efficient Use Of Its Profits?
Given that MP Materials 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
On the whole, we feel that MP Materials' performance has been quite good. 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.
