Tejon Ranch Co. (NYSE:TRC) Stock's Been Sliding But Fundamentals Look Decent: Will The Market Correct The Share Price In The Future?
Tejon Ranch (NYSE:TRC) has had a rough three months with its share price down 15%. However, the company's fundamentals look pretty decent, and long-term financials are usually aligned with future market price movements. In this article, we decided to focus on Tejon Ranch'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 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 Tejon Ranch
How To Calculate Return On Equity?
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 Tejon Ranch is:
2.3% = US$11m ÷ US$463m (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2022).
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 $0.02 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. 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 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.
Tejon Ranch's Earnings Growth And 2.3% ROE
It is quite clear that Tejon Ranch's ROE is rather low. Not just that, even compared to the industry average of 13%, the company's ROE is entirely unremarkable. However, we we're pleasantly surprised to see that Tejon Ranch grew its net income at a significant rate of 36% in the last five years. We reckon that there could be other factors at play here. For instance, the company has a low payout ratio or is being managed efficiently.
Next, on comparing with the industry net income growth, we found that Tejon Ranch's growth is quite high when compared to the industry average growth of 16% in the same period, which is great to see.
Earnings growth is a huge factor in stock valuation. It’s important for an investor to know whether the market has priced in the company's expected earnings growth (or decline). Doing so will help them establish if the stock's future looks promising or ominous. If you're wondering about Tejon Ranch's's valuation, check out this gauge of its price-to-earnings ratio, as compared to its industry.
Is Tejon Ranch Efficiently Re-investing Its Profits?
Tejon Ranch doesn't pay any dividend to its shareholders, meaning that the company has been reinvesting all of its profits into the business. This is likely what's driving the high earnings growth number discussed above.
Conclusion
In total, it does look like Tejon Ranch has some positive aspects to its business. Despite its low rate of return, the fact that the company reinvests a very high portion of its profits into its business, no doubt contributed to its high earnings growth. While we won't completely dismiss the company, what we would do, is try to ascertain how risky the business is to make a more informed decision around the company. You can see the 1 risk we have identified for Tejon Ranch by visiting our risks dashboard for free on our platform here.
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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.
