What You Must Know About NTT System SA.’s (WSE:NTT) Return on Equity
NTT System SA. (WSE:NTT) delivered a less impressive 1.24% ROE over the past year, compared to the 11.13% return generated by its industry. NTT’s results could indicate a relatively inefficient operation to its peers, and while this may be the case, it is important to understand what ROE is made up of and how it should be interpreted. Knowing these components could change your view on NTT’s performance. Metrics such as financial leverage can impact the level of ROE which in turn can affect the sustainability of NTT’s returns. Let me show you what I mean by this. See our latest analysis for NTT System
What you must know about ROE
Return on Equity (ROE) is a measure of NTT System’s profit relative to its shareholders’ equity. For example, if the company invests PLN1 in the form of equity, it will generate PLN0.01 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
Returns are usually compared to costs to measure the efficiency of capital. NTT System’s cost of equity is 12.92%. Since NTT System’s return does not cover its cost, with a difference of -11.69%, this means its current use of equity is not efficient and not sustainable. Very simply, NTT System pays more 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
Essentially, profit margin shows how much money the company makes after paying for all its expenses. Asset turnover shows how much revenue NTT System can generate with its current asset base. Finally, financial leverage will be our main focus today. It shows how much of assets are funded by equity and can show how sustainable the company’s capital structure is. Since ROE can be inflated by excessive debt, we need to examine NTT System’s debt-to-equity level. At 13.52%, NTT System’s debt-to-equity ratio appears low and indicates that NTT System still has room to increase leverage and grow its profits.
Next Steps:
ROE is a simple yet informative ratio, illustrating the various components that each measure the quality of the overall stock. NTT System’s below-industry ROE is disappointing, furthermore, its returns were not even high enough to cover its own cost of equity. Although, its appropriate level of leverage means investors can be more confident in the sustainability of NTT System’s return with a possible increase should the company decide to increase its debt levels. Although ROE can be a useful metric, it is only a small part of diligent research.
For NTT System, there are three fundamental factors you should look at:
Financial Health: Does it have a healthy balance sheet? Take a look at our free balance sheet analysis with six simple checks on key factors like leverage and risk.
Valuation: What is NTT System worth today? Is the stock undervalued, even when its growth outlook is factored into its intrinsic value? The intrinsic value infographic in our free research report helps visualize whether NTT System is currently mispriced by the market.
Other High-Growth Alternatives : Are there other high-growth stocks you could be holding instead of NTT System? Explore our interactive list of stocks with large growth potential to get an idea of what else is out there you may be missing!
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.
