Yahoo Finance Exxaro Resources Limited's (JSE:EXX) Stock Is Going Strong: Is the Market Following Fundamentals?
Most readers would already be aware that Exxaro Resources' (JSE:EXX) stock increased significantly by 9.4% over the past month. Given the company's impressive performance, we decided to study its financial indicators more closely as a company's financial health over the long-term usually dictates market outcomes. In this article, we decided to focus on Exxaro Resources' ROE.
Return on equity or ROE is an important factor to be considered by a shareholder because it tells them how effectively their capital is being reinvested. In short, ROE shows the profit each dollar generates with respect to its shareholder investments.
View our latest analysis for Exxaro Resources
How Do You Calculate Return On Equity?
ROE 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 Exxaro Resources is:
22% = R15b ÷ R66b (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2023).
The 'return' refers to a company's earnings over the last year. Another way to think of that is that for every ZAR1 worth of equity, the company was able to earn ZAR0.22 in profit.
Why Is ROE Important For 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.
Exxaro Resources' Earnings Growth And 22% ROE
To start with, Exxaro Resources' ROE looks acceptable. Even when compared to the industry average of 19% the company's ROE looks quite decent. Consequently, this likely laid the ground for the decent growth of 13% seen over the past five years by Exxaro Resources.
Next, on comparing Exxaro Resources' net income growth with the industry, we found that the company's reported growth is similar to the industry average growth rate of 12% 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. This then helps them determine if the stock is placed for a bright or bleak future. What is EXX worth today? The intrinsic value infographic in our free research report helps visualize whether EXX is currently mispriced by the market.
Is Exxaro Resources Efficiently Re-investing Its Profits?
Exxaro Resources has a significant three-year median payout ratio of 53%, meaning that it is left with only 47% to reinvest into its business. This implies that the company has been able to achieve decent earnings growth despite returning most of its profits to shareholders.
Besides, Exxaro Resources has been paying dividends for at least ten years or more. This shows that the company is committed to sharing profits with its shareholders. Upon studying the latest analysts' consensus data, we found that the company is expected to keep paying out approximately 59% of its profits over the next three years. Still, forecasts suggest that Exxaro Resources' future ROE will drop to 14% even though the the company's payout ratio is not expected to change by much.
Summary
On the whole, we feel that Exxaro Resources' performance has been quite good. In particular, its high ROE is quite noteworthy and also the probable explanation behind its considerable earnings growth. Yet, the company is retaining a small portion of its profits. Which means that the company has been able to grow its earnings in spite of it, so that's not too bad. Having said that, on studying current analyst estimates, we were concerned to see that while the company has grown its earnings in the past, analysts expect its earnings to shrink in the future. 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.
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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.
