Are Strong Financial Prospects The Force That Is Driving The Momentum In Preformed Line Products Company's NASDAQ:PLPC) Stock?
Preformed Line Products' (NASDAQ:PLPC) stock is up by a considerable 55% 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. Specifically, we decided to study Preformed Line Products' 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. Put another way, it reveals the company's success at turning shareholder investments into profits.
Check out our latest analysis for Preformed Line Products
How To 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 Preformed Line Products is:
15% = US$54m ÷ US$359m (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2022).
The 'return' is the profit over the last twelve months. That means that for every $1 worth of shareholders' equity, the company generated $0.15 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. 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. 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 Preformed Line Products' Earnings Growth And 15% ROE
At first glance, Preformed Line Products seems to have a decent ROE. Further, the company's ROE is similar to the industry average of 16%. Consequently, this likely laid the ground for the impressive net income growth of 21% seen over the past five years by Preformed Line Products. We believe that there might also be other aspects that are positively influencing the company's earnings growth. 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 Preformed Line Products' growth is quite high when compared to the industry average growth of 10% in the same period, which is great to see.
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. Doing so will help them establish if the stock's future looks promising or ominous. 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 Preformed Line Products is trading on a high P/E or a low P/E, relative to its industry.
Is Preformed Line Products Making Efficient Use Of Its Profits?
Preformed Line Products has a really low three-year median payout ratio of 12%, meaning that it has the remaining 88% left over to reinvest into its business. So it seems like the management is reinvesting profits heavily to grow its business and this reflects in its earnings growth number.
Additionally, Preformed Line Products 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.
Conclusion
Overall, we are quite pleased with Preformed Line Products' performance. Particularly, we like that the company is reinvesting heavily into its business, and at a high rate of return. Unsurprisingly, this has led to an impressive earnings growth.
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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.
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