Yahoo Finance Global Self Storage, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:SELF) Has Performed Well But Fundamentals Look Varied: Is There A Clear Direction For The Stock?
Global Self Storage's (NASDAQ:SELF) stock up by 6.4% over the past three months. However, the company's financials look a bit inconsistent and market outcomes are ultimately driven by long-term fundamentals, meaning that the stock could head in either direction. In this article, we decided to focus on Global Self Storage'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 other words, it is a profitability ratio which measures the rate of return on the capital provided by the company's shareholders.
Check out our latest analysis for Global Self Storage
How Do You Calculate Return On Equity?
The formula for return on equity is:
Return on Equity = Net Profit (from continuing operations) ÷ Shareholders' Equity
So, based on the above formula, the ROE for Global Self Storage is:
6.7% = US$3.2m ÷ US$47m (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2022).
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 $0.07 in profit.
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.
Global Self Storage's Earnings Growth And 6.7% ROE
At first glance, Global Self Storage's ROE doesn't look very promising. However, given that the company's ROE is similar to the average industry ROE of 6.5%, we may spare it some thought. Moreover, we are quite pleased to see that Global Self Storage's net income grew significantly at a rate of 52% over the last five years. Taking into consideration that the ROE is not particularly high, we reckon that there could also be other factors at play which could be influencing the company's growth. Such as - high earnings retention or an efficient management in place.
We then compared Global Self Storage'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 11% in the same period.
Earnings growth is a huge factor in stock valuation. 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. One good indicator of expected earnings growth is the P/E ratio which determines the price the market is willing to pay for a stock based on its earnings prospects. So, you may want to check if Global Self Storage is trading on a high P/E or a low P/E, relative to its industry.
Is Global Self Storage Efficiently Re-investing Its Profits?
Global Self Storage's very high three-year median payout ratio of 109% suggests that the company is paying more to its shareholders 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 5 risks we have identified for Global Self Storage visit our risks dashboard for free.
Moreover, Global Self Storage is determined to keep sharing its profits with shareholders which we infer from its long history of eight years of paying a dividend.
Conclusion
On the whole, we feel that the performance shown by Global Self Storage can be open to many interpretations. Although the company has shown a pretty impressive growth in earnings, yet the low ROE and the low rate of reinvestment makes us skeptical about the continuity of that growth, especially when or if the business comes to face any threats. With that said, on studying the latest analyst forecasts, we found that while the company has seen growth in its past earnings, analysts expect its future earnings to shrink. 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.
