Are Peoplein Limited's (ASX:PPE) Fundamentals Good Enough to Warrant Buying Given The Stock's Recent Weakness?
It is hard to get excited after looking at Peoplein's (ASX:PPE) recent performance, when its stock has declined 13% over the past three months. But if you pay close attention, you might find that its key financial indicators look quite decent, which could mean that the stock could potentially rise in the long-term given how markets usually reward more resilient long-term fundamentals. Specifically, we decided to study Peoplein's ROE in this article.
Return on equity or ROE is a key measure used to assess how efficiently a company's management is utilizing the company's capital. Simply put, it is used to assess the profitability of a company in relation to its equity capital.
See our latest analysis for Peoplein
How Do You Calculate Return On Equity?
The formula for return on equity is:
Return on Equity = Net Profit (from continuing operations) ÷ Shareholders' Equity
So, based on the above formula, the ROE for Peoplein is:
8.8% = AU$11m ÷ AU$122m (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2021).
The 'return' is the income the business earned over the last year. That means that for every A$1 worth of shareholders' equity, the company generated A$0.09 in profit.
Why Is ROE Important For Earnings Growth?
So far, we've learned that ROE is a measure of a company's profitability. Depending on how much of these profits the company reinvests or "retains", and how effectively it does so, we are then able to assess a company’s earnings growth potential. 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.
Peoplein's Earnings Growth And 8.8% ROE
At first glance, Peoplein's ROE doesn't look very promising. Next, when compared to the average industry ROE of 12%, the company's ROE leaves us feeling even less enthusiastic. In spite of this, Peoplein was able to grow its net income considerably, at a rate of 32% in the last five years. We reckon that there could be other factors at play here. For example, it is possible that the company's management has made some good strategic decisions, or that the company has a low payout ratio.
Next, on comparing with the industry net income growth, we found that Peoplein's growth is quite high when compared to the industry average growth of 22% in the same period, which is great to see.
Earnings growth is a huge factor in stock valuation. The investor should try to establish if the expected growth or decline in earnings, whichever the case may be, is priced in. By doing so, they will have an idea if the stock is headed into clear blue waters or if swampy waters await. One good indicator of expected earnings growth is the P/E ratio which determines the price the market is willing to pay for a stock based on its earnings prospects. So, you may want to check if Peoplein is trading on a high P/E or a low P/E, relative to its industry.
Is Peoplein Using Its Retained Earnings Effectively?
Peoplein's significant three-year median payout ratio of 57% (where it is retaining only 43% of its income) suggests that the company has been able to achieve a high growth in earnings despite returning most of its income to shareholders.
Moreover, Peoplein is determined to keep sharing its profits with shareholders which we infer from its long history of four years of paying a dividend. Existing analyst estimates suggest that the company's future payout ratio is expected to drop to 42% over the next three years. Accordingly, the expected drop in the payout ratio explains the expected increase in the company's ROE to 24%, over the same period.
Conclusion
In total, it does look like Peoplein has some positive aspects to its business. That is, quite an impressive growth in earnings. However, the low profit retention means that the company's earnings growth could have been higher, had it been reinvesting a higher portion of its profits. On studying current analyst estimates, we found that analysts expect the company to continue its recent growth streak. 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.
