What You Must Know About Vornado Realty Trust’s (NYSE:VNO) 3.3% ROE
This analysis is intended to introduce important early concepts to people who are starting to invest and want to learn about Return on Equity using a real-life example.
Vornado Realty Trust’s (NYSE:VNO) most recent return on equity was a substandard 3.3% relative to its industry performance of 6.5% over the past year. VNO’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 VNO’s performance. I will take you through how metrics such as financial leverage impact ROE which may affect the overall sustainability of VNO’s returns.
See our latest analysis for Vornado Realty Trust
Peeling the layers of ROE – trisecting a company’s profitability
Firstly, Return on Equity, or ROE, is simply the percentage of last years’ earning against the book value of shareholders’ equity. For example, if the company invests $1 in the form of equity, it will generate $0.033 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 measured against cost of equity in order to determine the efficiency of Vornado Realty Trust’s equity capital deployed. Its cost of equity is 8.6%. This means Vornado Realty Trust’s returns actually do not cover its own cost of equity, with a discrepancy of -5.3%. This isn’t sustainable as it implies, very simply, that the company pays more for its capital than what it generates in return. ROE can be split up into three useful 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
Basically, profit margin measures how much of revenue trickles down into earnings which illustrates how efficient the business is with its cost management. Asset turnover shows how much revenue Vornado Realty Trust can generate with its current asset base. And finally, financial leverage is simply how much of assets are funded by equity, which exhibits how sustainable the company’s capital structure is. Since ROE can be inflated by excessive debt, we need to examine Vornado Realty Trust’s debt-to-equity level. At 167%, Vornado Realty Trust’s debt-to-equity ratio appears relatively high and indicates the below-average ROE is already being generated by significant leverage levels.
Next Steps:
While ROE is a relatively simple calculation, it can be broken down into different ratios, each telling a different story about the strengths and weaknesses of a company. Vornado Realty Trust exhibits a weak ROE against its peers, as well as insufficient levels to cover its own cost of equity this year. Its concerning leverage level means its ROE is already supported by high debt, raising questions over whether ROE will further decline in the future. Although ROE can be a useful metric, it is only a small part of diligent research.
For Vornado Realty Trust, I’ve put together three key factors you should further examine:
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 Vornado Realty Trust 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 Vornado Realty Trust is currently mispriced by the market.
Other High-Growth Alternatives : Are there other high-growth stocks you could be holding instead of Vornado Realty Trust? 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 past 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. For errors that warrant correction please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com.
