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PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad's (KLSE:PCHEM) Stock Is Going Strong: Have Financials A Role To Play?
PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad's (KLSE:PCHEM) stock is up by a considerable 19% over the past three months. Given that stock prices are usually aligned with a company's financial performance in the long-term, we decided to study its financial indicators more closely to see if they had a hand to play in the recent price move. In this article, we decided to focus on PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad's ROE.
ROE or return on equity is a useful tool to assess how effectively a company can generate returns on the investment it received from its shareholders. In simpler terms, it measures the profitability of a company in relation to shareholder's equity.
View our latest analysis for PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad
How Is ROE Calculated?
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 PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad is:
8.7% = RM3.6b ÷ RM41b (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2023).
The 'return' is the profit over the last twelve months. One way to conceptualize this is that for each MYR1 of shareholders' capital it has, the company made MYR0.09 in profit.
Why Is ROE Important For Earnings Growth?
We have already established that ROE serves as an efficient profit-generating gauge for a company's future earnings. Based on how much of its profits the company chooses to reinvest or "retain", we are then able to evaluate a company's future ability to generate profits. 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.
A Side By Side comparison of PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad's Earnings Growth And 8.7% ROE
On the face of it, PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad's ROE is not much to talk about. However, the fact that the company's ROE is higher than the average industry ROE of 6.4%, is definitely interesting. This probably goes some way in explaining PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad's moderate 12% growth over the past five years amongst other factors. That being said, the company does have a slightly low ROE to begin with, just that it is higher than the industry average. Hence there might be some other aspects that are causing earnings to grow. E.g the company has a low payout ratio or could belong to a high growth industry.
We then performed a comparison between PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad's net income growth with the industry, which revealed that the company's growth is similar to the average industry growth of 13% in the same 5-year period.
Earnings growth is an important metric to consider when valuing a stock. What investors need to determine next is if the expected earnings growth, or the lack of it, is already built into the share price. This then helps them determine if the stock is placed for a bright or bleak future. What is PCHEM worth today? The intrinsic value infographic in our free research report helps visualize whether PCHEM is currently mispriced by the market.
Is PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad Efficiently Re-investing Its Profits?
While PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad has a three-year median payout ratio of 52% (which means it retains 48% of profits), the company has still seen a fair bit of earnings growth in the past, meaning that its high payout ratio hasn't hampered its ability to grow.
Besides, PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad has been paying dividends for at least ten years or more. This shows that the company is committed to sharing profits with its shareholders. Upon studying the latest analysts' consensus data, we found that the company is expected to keep paying out approximately 55% of its profits over the next three years. Accordingly, forecasts suggest that PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad's future ROE will be 9.6% which is again, similar to the current ROE.
Summary
Overall, we feel that PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad certainly does have some positive factors to consider. Specifically, its respectable ROE which likely led to the considerable growth in earnings. Yet, the company is retaining a small portion of its profits. Which means that the company has been able to grow its earnings in spite of it, so that's not too bad. On studying current analyst estimates, we found that analysts expect the company to continue its recent growth streak. To know more about the company's future earnings growth forecasts take a look at this free report on analyst forecasts for the company to find out more.
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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.
