Are Robust Financials Driving The Recent Rally In BE Semiconductor Industries N.V.'s (AMS:BESI) Stock?

BE Semiconductor Industries' (AMS:BESI) stock is up by a considerable 30% over the past three months. Since the market usually pay for a company’s long-term fundamentals, we decided to study the company’s key performance indicators to see if they could be influencing the market. In this article, we decided to focus on BE Semiconductor Industries' ROE.

Return on Equity or ROE is a test of how effectively a company is growing its value and managing investors’ money. In other words, it is a profitability ratio which measures the rate of return on the capital provided by the company's shareholders.

See our latest analysis for BE Semiconductor Industries

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 BE Semiconductor Industries is:

35% = €208m ÷ €596m (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2023).

The 'return' is the profit over the last twelve months. That means that for every €1 worth of shareholders' equity, the company generated €0.35 in profit.

What Has ROE Got To Do With Earnings Growth?

Thus far, we have learned that ROE measures how efficiently a company is generating its profits. 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.

BE Semiconductor Industries' Earnings Growth And 35% ROE

First thing first, we like that BE Semiconductor Industries has an impressive ROE. Second, a comparison with the average ROE reported by the industry of 18% also doesn't go unnoticed by us. This probably laid the groundwork for BE Semiconductor Industries' moderate 19% net income growth seen over the past five years.

As a next step, we compared BE Semiconductor Industries' net income growth with the industry and found that the company has a similar growth figure when compared with the industry average growth rate of 19% in the same period.

past-earnings-growth

The basis for attaching value to a company is, to a great extent, tied to its earnings growth. 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. 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 BE Semiconductor Industries is trading on a high P/E or a low P/E, relative to its industry.

Is BE Semiconductor Industries Using Its Retained Earnings Effectively?

BE Semiconductor Industries has a significant three-year median payout ratio of 87%, meaning that it is left with only 13% to reinvest into its business. This implies that the company has been able to achieve decent earnings growth despite returning most of its profits to shareholders.

Additionally, BE Semiconductor Industries has paid dividends over a period of at least ten years which means that the company is pretty serious about sharing its profits with shareholders. Upon studying the latest analysts' consensus data, we found that the company is expected to keep paying out approximately 89% of its profits over the next three years. Still, forecasts suggest that BE Semiconductor Industries' future ROE will rise to 59% even though the the company's payout ratio is not expected to change by much.

Summary

Overall, we are quite pleased with BE Semiconductor Industries' performance. Especially the high ROE, Which has contributed to the impressive growth seen in earnings. Despite the company reinvesting only a small portion of its profits, it still has managed to grow its earnings so that is appreciable. Having said that, looking at the current analyst estimates, we found that the company's earnings are expected to gain momentum. Are these analysts expectations based on the broad expectations for the industry, or on the company's fundamentals? Click here to be taken to our analyst's forecasts page for the company.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.

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.

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