Yahoo Finance Are Global Medical REIT Inc.'s (NYSE:GMRE) Mixed Financials Driving The Negative Sentiment?
It is hard to get excited after looking at Global Medical REIT's (NYSE:GMRE) recent performance, when its stock has declined 20% over the past three months. It seems that the market might have completely ignored the positive aspects of the company's fundamentals and decided to weigh-in more on the negative aspects. Fundamentals usually dictate market outcomes so it makes sense to study the company's financials. In this article, we decided to focus on Global Medical REIT's ROE.
Return on equity or ROE is a key measure used to assess how efficiently a company's management is utilizing the company's capital. In short, ROE shows the profit each dollar generates with respect to its shareholder investments.
View our latest analysis for Global Medical REIT
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 Global Medical REIT is:
3.0% = US$19m ÷ US$653m (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2022).
The 'return' is the amount earned after tax over the last twelve months. Another way to think of that is that for every $1 worth of equity, the company was able to earn $0.03 in profit.
What Is The Relationship Between ROE And Earnings Growth?
We have already established that ROE serves as an efficient profit-generating gauge for a company's future earnings. 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. 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.
Global Medical REIT's Earnings Growth And 3.0% ROE
It is quite clear that Global Medical REIT's ROE is rather low. Not just that, even compared to the industry average of 6.5%, the company's ROE is entirely unremarkable. In spite of this, Global Medical REIT was able to grow its net income considerably, at a rate of 25% in the last five years. We reckon that there could be other factors at play here. For example, it is possible that the company's management has made some good strategic decisions, or that the company has a low payout ratio.
As a next step, we compared Global Medical REIT's net income growth with the industry, and pleasingly, we found that the growth seen by the company is higher than the average industry growth of 11%.
Earnings growth is an important metric to consider when valuing a stock. What investors need to determine next is if the expected earnings growth, or the lack of it, is already built into the share price. This then helps them determine if the stock is placed for a bright or bleak future. Is Global Medical REIT fairly valued compared to other companies? These 3 valuation measures might help you decide.
Is Global Medical REIT Using Its Retained Earnings Effectively?
The really high three-year median payout ratio of 129% for Global Medical REIT suggests that the company is paying its shareholders more than what it is earning. However, this hasn't hampered its ability to grow as we saw earlier. With that said, it could be worth keeping an eye on the high payout ratio as that's a huge risk. To know the 4 risks we have identified for Global Medical REIT visit our risks dashboard for free.
Moreover, Global Medical REIT is determined to keep sharing its profits with shareholders which we infer from its long history of eight years of paying a dividend. Upon studying the latest analysts' consensus data, we found that the company's future payout ratio is expected to drop to 75% over the next three years.
Conclusion
On the whole, we feel that the performance shown by Global Medical REIT can be open to many interpretations. While the company has posted impressive earnings growth, its poor ROE and low earnings retention makes us doubtful if that growth could continue, if by any chance the business is faced with any sort of risk. 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 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.
