Yahoo Finance Are Check Point Software Technologies Ltd.'s (NASDAQ:CHKP) Fundamentals Good Enough to Warrant Buying Given The Stock's Recent Weakness?
With its stock down 7.8% over the past month, it is easy to disregard Check Point Software Technologies (NASDAQ:CHKP). 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 Check Point Software Technologies' 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. Simply put, it is used to assess the profitability of a company in relation to its equity capital.
Check out our latest analysis for Check Point Software Technologies
How Is ROE Calculated?
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 Check Point Software Technologies is:
30% = US$840m ÷ US$2.8b (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2024).
The 'return' refers to a company's earnings over the last year. One way to conceptualize this is that for each $1 of shareholders' capital it has, the company made $0.30 in profit.
What Is The Relationship Between ROE And Earnings Growth?
So far, we've learned that ROE is a measure of a company's profitability. Based on how much of its profits the company chooses to reinvest or "retain", we are then able to evaluate a company's future ability to generate profits. 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.
A Side By Side comparison of Check Point Software Technologies' Earnings Growth And 30% ROE
To begin with, Check Point Software Technologies has a pretty high ROE which is interesting. Additionally, the company's ROE is higher compared to the industry average of 14% which is quite remarkable. However, we are curious as to how the high returns still resulted in a flat growth for Check Point Software Technologies in the past five years. Based on this, we feel that there might be other reasons which haven't been discussed so far in this article that could be hampering the company's growth. Such as, the company pays out a huge portion of its earnings as dividends, or is faced with competitive pressures.
As a next step, we compared Check Point Software Technologies' net income growth with the industry and were disappointed to see that the company's growth is lower than the industry average growth of 15% in the same period.
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. This then helps them determine if the stock is placed for a bright or bleak future. Is CHKP fairly valued? This infographic on the company's intrinsic value has everything you need to know.
Is Check Point Software Technologies Efficiently Re-investing Its Profits?
Check Point Software Technologies doesn't pay any regular dividends, which means that it is retaining all of its earnings. This makes us question why the company is retaining so much of its profits and still generating almost no growth? So there might be other factors at play here which could potentially be hampering growth. For example, the business has faced some headwinds.
Conclusion
Overall, we feel that Check Point Software Technologies certainly does have some positive factors to consider. 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. Having said that, looking at the current analyst estimates, we found that the company's earnings are expected to gain momentum. To know more about the company's future earnings growth forecasts take a look at this free report on analyst forecasts for the company to find out more.
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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.
