Yahoo Finance Declining Stock and Decent Financials: Is The Market Wrong About STORE Capital Corporation (NYSE:STOR)?
It is hard to get excited after looking at STORE Capital's (NYSE:STOR) recent performance, when its stock has declined 13% over the past month. However, stock prices are usually driven by a company’s financials over the long term, which in this case look pretty respectable. In this article, we decided to focus on STORE Capital's 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 simpler terms, it measures the profitability of a company in relation to shareholder's equity.
Check out our latest analysis for STORE Capital
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 STORE Capital is:
4.9% = US$248m ÷ US$5.1b (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2021).
The 'return' refers to a company's earnings over the last year. Another way to think of that is that for every $1 worth of equity, the company was able to earn $0.05 in profit.
Why Is ROE Important For Earnings Growth?
Thus far, we have learned that ROE measures how efficiently a company is generating its profits. 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. 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.
A Side By Side comparison of STORE Capital's Earnings Growth And 4.9% ROE
On the face of it, STORE Capital's ROE is not much to talk about. Next, when compared to the average industry ROE of 6.8%, the company's ROE leaves us feeling even less enthusiastic. STORE Capital was still able to see a decent net income growth of 13% over the past five years. So, the growth in the company's earnings could probably have been caused by other variables. Such as - high earnings retention or an efficient management in place.
We then compared STORE Capital's net income growth with the industry and we're pleased to see that the company's growth figure is higher when compared with the industry which has a growth rate of 9.0% in the same period.
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. This then helps them determine if the stock is placed for a bright or bleak future. Is STORE Capital fairly valued compared to other companies? These 3 valuation measures might help you decide.
Is STORE Capital Making Efficient Use Of Its Profits?
STORE Capital has a high three-year median payout ratio of 72%. This means that it has only 28% of its income left to reinvest into its business. However, it's not unusual to see a REIT with such a high payout ratio mainly due to statutory requirements. Despite this, the company's earnings grew moderately as we saw above.
Moreover, STORE Capital is determined to keep sharing its profits with shareholders which we infer from its long history of seven years of paying a dividend. Our latest analyst data shows that the future payout ratio of the company over the next three years is expected to be approximately 72%. However, STORE Capital's ROE is predicted to rise to 5.9% despite there being no anticipated change in its payout ratio.
Summary
On the whole, we do feel that STORE Capital has some positive attributes. While no doubt its earnings growth is pretty substantial, we do feel that the reinvestment rate is pretty low, meaning, the earnings growth number could have been significantly higher had the company been retaining more of its profits. We also studied the latest analyst forecasts and found that the company's earnings growth is expected be similar to its current growth rate. To know more about the latest analysts predictions for the company, check out this visualization of analyst forecasts 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.
