Yahoo Finance Agilent Technologies, Inc.'s (NYSE:A) Stock Is Going Strong: Is the Market Following Fundamentals?
Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) has had a great run on the share market with its stock up by a significant 14% over the last three months. Given that the market rewards strong financials in the long-term, we wonder if that is the case in this instance. Particularly, we will be paying attention to Agilent Technologies' ROE today.
Return on equity or ROE is a key measure used to assess how efficiently a company's management is utilizing the company's capital. Put another way, it reveals the company's success at turning shareholder investments into profits.
View our latest analysis for Agilent Technologies
How To Calculate Return On Equity?
The formula for ROE is:
Return on Equity = Net Profit (from continuing operations) ÷ Shareholders' Equity
So, based on the above formula, the ROE for Agilent Technologies is:
19% = US$925m ÷ US$4.8b (Based on the trailing twelve months to April 2021).
The 'return' refers to a company's earnings over the last year. So, this means that for every $1 of its shareholder's investments, the company generates a profit of $0.19.
What Has ROE Got To Do With Earnings Growth?
Thus far, we have learned that ROE measures how efficiently a company is generating its profits. 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. 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.
A Side By Side comparison of Agilent Technologies' Earnings Growth And 19% ROE
To begin with, Agilent Technologies seems to have a respectable ROE. Even when compared to the industry average of 18% the company's ROE looks quite decent. This certainly adds some context to Agilent Technologies' moderate 15% net income growth seen over the past five years.
As a next step, we compared Agilent 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 20% in the same period.
Earnings growth is an important metric to consider when valuing a stock. It’s important for an investor to know whether the market has priced in the company's expected earnings growth (or decline). This then helps them determine if the stock is placed for a bright or bleak future. If you're wondering about Agilent Technologies''s valuation, check out this gauge of its price-to-earnings ratio, as compared to its industry.
Is Agilent Technologies Making Efficient Use Of Its Profits?
With a three-year median payout ratio of 28% (implying that the company retains 72% of its profits), it seems that Agilent Technologies is reinvesting efficiently in a way that it sees respectable amount growth in its earnings and pays a dividend that's well covered.
Besides, Agilent Technologies has been paying dividends over a period of nine years. This shows that the company is committed to sharing profits with its shareholders. Existing analyst estimates suggest that the company's future payout ratio is expected to drop to 19% over the next three years. Accordingly, the expected drop in the payout ratio explains the expected increase in the company's ROE to 29%, over the same period.
Summary
In total, we are pretty happy with Agilent Technologies' performance. Particularly, we like that the company is reinvesting heavily into its business, and at a high rate of return. As a result, the decent growth in its earnings is not surprising. That being so, a study of the latest analyst forecasts show that the company is expected to see a slowdown in its future earnings growth. 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.
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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