Has Zimmer Biomet Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:ZBH) Stock's Recent Performance Got Anything to Do With Its Financial Health?
Zimmer Biomet Holdings' (NYSE:ZBH) stock is up by 5.4% over the past three months. As most would know, long-term fundamentals have a strong correlation with market price movements, so we decided to look at the company's key financial indicators today to determine if they have any role to play in the recent price movement. Particularly, we will be paying attention to Zimmer Biomet Holdings' ROE today.
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. Simply put, it is used to assess the profitability of a company in relation to its equity capital.
Check out our latest analysis for Zimmer Biomet Holdings
How Is ROE Calculated?
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 Zimmer Biomet Holdings is:
8.2% = US$1.0b ÷ US$12b (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2023).
The 'return' is the income the business earned over the last year. So, this means that for every $1 of its shareholder's investments, the company generates a profit of $0.08.
What Has ROE Got To Do With Earnings Growth?
So far, we've learned 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 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.
Zimmer Biomet Holdings' Earnings Growth And 8.2% ROE
When you first look at it, Zimmer Biomet Holdings' ROE doesn't look that attractive. We then compared the company's ROE to the broader industry and were disappointed to see that the ROE is lower than the industry average of 11%. However, we we're pleasantly surprised to see that Zimmer Biomet Holdings grew its net income at a significant rate of 35% in the last five years. Therefore, there could be other reasons behind this 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.
As a next step, we compared Zimmer Biomet Holdings' net income growth with the industry, and pleasingly, we found that the growth seen by the company is higher than the average industry growth of 14%.
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. What is ZBH worth today? The intrinsic value infographic in our free research report helps visualize whether ZBH is currently mispriced by the market.
Is Zimmer Biomet Holdings Using Its Retained Earnings Effectively?
Zimmer Biomet Holdings has a three-year median payout ratio of 42% (where it is retaining 58% of its income) which is not too low or not too high. By the looks of it, the dividend is well covered and Zimmer Biomet Holdings is reinvesting its profits efficiently as evidenced by its exceptional growth which we discussed above.
Moreover, Zimmer Biomet Holdings is determined to keep sharing its profits with shareholders which we infer from its long history of paying a dividend for at least ten years. Existing analyst estimates suggest that the company's future payout ratio is expected to drop to 12% over the next three years. As a result, the expected drop in Zimmer Biomet Holdings' payout ratio explains the anticipated rise in the company's future ROE to 17%, over the same period.
Summary
On the whole, we do feel that Zimmer Biomet Holdings has some positive attributes. With a high rate of reinvestment, albeit at a low ROE, the company has managed to see a considerable growth in its earnings. Having said that, the company's earnings growth is expected to slow down, as forecasted in the current analyst estimates. 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.
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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.
