Yahoo Finance Declining Stock and Decent Financials: Is The Market Wrong About Hallenstein Glasson Holdings Limited (NZSE:HLG)?
Hallenstein Glasson Holdings (NZSE:HLG) has had a rough month with its share price down 7.5%. 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 Hallenstein Glasson Holdings' 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 Hallenstein Glasson Holdings
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 Hallenstein Glasson Holdings is:
31% = NZ$32m ÷ NZ$103m (Based on the trailing twelve months to February 2024).
The 'return' is the yearly profit. Another way to think of that is that for every NZ$1 worth of equity, the company was able to earn NZ$0.31 in profit.
What Has ROE Got To Do With Earnings Growth?
So far, we've learned that ROE is a measure of a company's profitability. 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. 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 Hallenstein Glasson Holdings' Earnings Growth And 31% ROE
To begin with, Hallenstein Glasson Holdings has a pretty high ROE which is interesting. Additionally, the company's ROE is higher compared to the industry average of 12% which is quite remarkable. Despite this, Hallenstein Glasson Holdings' five year net income growth was quite low averaging at only 2.3%. That's a bit unexpected from a company which has such a high rate of return. Such a scenario is likely to take place when a company pays out a huge portion of its earnings as dividends, or is faced with competitive pressures.
Next, on comparing Hallenstein Glasson Holdings' net income growth with the industry, we found that the company's reported growth is similar to the industry average growth rate of 2.3% over the last few years.
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. If you're wondering about Hallenstein Glasson Holdings''s valuation, check out this gauge of its price-to-earnings ratio, as compared to its industry.
Is Hallenstein Glasson Holdings Efficiently Re-investing Its Profits?
With a high three-year median payout ratio of 89% (or a retention ratio of 11%), most of Hallenstein Glasson Holdings' profits are being paid to shareholders. This definitely contributes to the low earnings growth seen by the company.
In addition, Hallenstein Glasson Holdings has been paying dividends over a period of at least ten years suggesting that keeping up dividend payments is way more important to the management even if it comes at the cost of business growth. Upon studying the latest analysts' consensus data, we found that the company is expected to keep paying out approximately 91% of its profits over the next three years. Therefore, the company's future ROE is also not expected to change by much with analysts predicting an ROE of 32%.
Conclusion
In total, it does look like Hallenstein Glasson Holdings has some positive aspects to its business. Its earnings growth is decent, and the high ROE does contribute to that growth. However, investors could have benefitted even more from the high ROE, had the company been reinvesting more of its earnings. 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.
