Yahoo Finance Alternative Income REIT Plc's (LON:AIRE) Stock Financial Prospects Look Bleak: Should Shareholders Be Prepared For A Share Price Correction?
Alternative Income REIT's (LON:AIRE) stock is up by 4.4% over the past month. Given that the markets usually pay for the long-term financial health of a company, we wonder if the current momentum in the share price will keep up, given that the company's financials don't look very promising. Particularly, we will be paying attention to Alternative Income REIT's ROE today.
Return on Equity or ROE is a test of how effectively a company is growing its value and managing investors’ money. Simply put, it is used to assess the profitability of a company in relation to its equity capital.
Check out our latest analysis for Alternative Income REIT
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 Alternative Income REIT is:
4.1% = UK£2.7m ÷ UK£66m (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2023).
The 'return' is the profit over the last twelve months. So, this means that for every £1 of its shareholder's investments, the company generates a profit of £0.04.
Why Is ROE Important For 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. 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 Alternative Income REIT's Earnings Growth And 4.1% ROE
When you first look at it, Alternative Income REIT's ROE doesn't look that attractive. A quick further study shows that the company's ROE doesn't compare favorably to the industry average of 5.6% either. For this reason, Alternative Income REIT's five year net income decline of 2.9% is not surprising given its lower ROE. We reckon that there could also be other factors at play here. For instance, the company has a very high payout ratio, or is faced with competitive pressures.
So, as a next step, we compared Alternative Income REIT's performance against the industry and were disappointed to discover that while the company has been shrinking its earnings, the industry has been growing its earnings at a rate of 13% over the last few years.
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). Doing so will help them establish if the stock's future looks promising or ominous. Is Alternative Income REIT fairly valued compared to other companies? These 3 valuation measures might help you decide.
Is Alternative Income REIT Making Efficient Use Of Its Profits?
Alternative Income REIT has a very high three-year median payout ratio of 73%, implying that it retains only 27% of its profits. However, it's not unusual to see a REIT with such a high payout ratio mainly due to statutory requirements. Accordingly, this likely explains why its earnings have been shrinking.
In addition, Alternative Income REIT has been paying dividends over a period of seven years suggesting that keeping up dividend payments is preferred by the management even though earnings have been in decline.
Conclusion
In total, we would have a hard think before deciding on any investment action concerning Alternative Income REIT. The company has seen a lack of earnings growth as a result of retaining very little profits and whatever little it does retain, is being reinvested at a very low rate of return. Until now, we have only just grazed the surface of the company's past performance by looking at the company's fundamentals. You can do your own research on Alternative Income REIT and see how it has performed in the past by looking at this FREE detailed graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flows.
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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.
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