Is Weakness In Lawson Products, Inc. (NASDAQ:LAWS) Stock A Sign That The Market Could be Wrong Given Its Strong Financial Prospects?
With its stock down 12% over the past month, it is easy to disregard Lawson Products (NASDAQ:LAWS). However, stock prices are usually driven by a company’s financial performance over the long term, which in this case looks quite promising. In this article, we decided to focus on Lawson Products' ROE.
Return on equity or ROE is a key measure used to assess how efficiently a company's management is utilizing the company's capital. In simpler terms, it measures the profitability of a company in relation to shareholder's equity.
Check out our latest analysis for Lawson Products
How Is ROE Calculated?
The formula for ROE is:
Return on Equity = Net Profit (from continuing operations) ÷ Shareholders' Equity
So, based on the above formula, the ROE for Lawson Products is:
13% = US$16m ÷ US$117m (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2020).
The 'return' is the yearly profit. So, this means that for every $1 of its shareholder's investments, the company generates a profit of $0.13.
What Is The Relationship Between ROE And Earnings Growth?
So far, we've learnt that ROE is a measure of a company's profitability. 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 all else is equal, companies that have both a higher return on equity and higher profit retention are usually the ones that have a higher growth rate when compared to companies that don't have the same features.
Lawson Products' Earnings Growth And 13% ROE
To begin with, Lawson Products seems to have a respectable ROE. Especially when compared to the industry average of 11% the company's ROE looks pretty impressive. Probably as a result of this, Lawson Products was able to see an impressive net income growth of 43% over the last five years. We reckon that there could also be other factors at play here. 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.
We then compared Lawson Products' net income growth with the industry and we're pleased to see that the company's growth figure is higher when compared with the industry which has a growth rate of 17% in the same period.
Earnings growth is a huge factor in stock valuation. The investor should try to establish if the expected growth or decline in earnings, whichever the case may be, is priced in. By doing so, they will have an idea if the stock is headed into clear blue waters or if swampy waters await. 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 Lawson Products is trading on a high P/E or a low P/E, relative to its industry.
Is Lawson Products Using Its Retained Earnings Effectively?
Lawson Products doesn't pay any dividend currently which essentially means that it has been reinvesting all of its profits into the business. This definitely contributes to the high earnings growth number that we discussed above.
Summary
On the whole, we feel that Lawson Products' performance has been quite good. 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. With that said, on studying the latest analyst forecasts, we found that while the company has seen growth in its past earnings, analysts expect its future earnings to shrink. To know more about the latest analysts predictions for the company, check out this visualization of analyst forecasts for the company.
This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. 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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