Sanderson Design Group plc (LON:SDG) Stock's Been Sliding But Fundamentals Look Decent: Will The Market Correct The Share Price In The Future?
Sanderson Design Group (LON:SDG) has had a rough three months with its share price down 3.6%. 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 Sanderson Design Group's ROE in this article.
Return on Equity or ROE is a test of how effectively a company is growing its value and managing investors’ money. Put another way, it reveals the company's success at turning shareholder investments into profits.
Check out our latest analysis for Sanderson Design Group
How To Calculate Return On Equity?
ROE 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 Sanderson Design Group is:
11% = UK£8.8m ÷ UK£81m (Based on the trailing twelve months to January 2023).
The 'return' refers to a company's earnings over the last year. Another way to think of that is that for every £1 worth of equity, the company was able to earn £0.11 in profit.
What Has ROE Got To Do With Earnings Growth?
We have already established that ROE serves as an efficient profit-generating gauge for a company's future earnings. We now need to evaluate how much profit the company reinvests or "retains" for future growth which then gives us an idea about the growth potential of the company. Generally speaking, other things being equal, firms with a high return on equity and profit retention, have a higher growth rate than firms that don’t share these attributes.
Sanderson Design Group's Earnings Growth And 11% ROE
To start with, Sanderson Design Group's ROE looks acceptable. Further, the company's ROE is similar to the industry average of 10%. However, we are curious as to how Sanderson Design Group's decent returns still resulted in flat growth for Sanderson Design Group in the past five years. So, there could be some other aspects that could potentially be preventing the company from growing. For example, it could be that the company has a high payout ratio or the business has allocated capital poorly, for instance.
We then compared Sanderson Design Group's performance with the industry and found that the company has shrunk its earnings at a slower rate than the industry earnings which has seen its earnings shrink by 3.6% in the same 5-year period. This does offer shareholders some relief
Earnings growth is a huge factor in stock valuation. What investors need to determine next is if the expected earnings growth, or the lack of it, is already built into the share price. Doing so will help them establish if the stock's future looks promising or ominous. Is SDG fairly valued? This infographic on the company's intrinsic value has everything you need to know.
Is Sanderson Design Group Using Its Retained Earnings Effectively?
Sanderson Design Group's low three-year median payout ratio of 14% (implying that the company keeps86% of its income) should mean that the company is retaining most of its earnings to fuel its growth and this should be reflected in its growth number, but that's not the case.
Additionally, Sanderson Design Group has paid dividends over a period of at least ten years, which means that the company's management is determined to pay dividends even if it means little to no earnings growth. Our latest analyst data shows that the future payout ratio of the company is expected to rise to 26% over the next three years. Regardless, the future ROE for Sanderson Design Group is speculated to rise to 13% despite the anticipated increase in the payout ratio. There could probably be other factors that could be driving the future growth in the ROE.
Summary
On the whole, we do feel that Sanderson Design Group has some positive attributes. Yet, the low earnings growth is a bit concerning, especially given that the company has a high rate of return and is reinvesting ma huge portion of its profits. By the looks of it, there could be some other factors, not necessarily in control of the business, that's preventing growth. With that said, we studied current analyst estimates and discovered that analysts expect the company's earnings growth to improve slightly. This could offer some relief to the company's existing shareholders. 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.