Yahoo Finance Landstar System, Inc. (NASDAQ:LSTR) Stock Has Shown Weakness Lately But Financials Look Strong: Should Prospective Shareholders Make The Leap?
With its stock down 3.4% over the past three months, it is easy to disregard Landstar System (NASDAQ:LSTR). But if you pay close attention, you might gather that its strong financials could mean that the stock could potentially see an increase in value in the long-term, given how markets usually reward companies with good financial health. In this article, we decided to focus on Landstar System's 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. Put another way, it reveals the company's success at turning shareholder investments into profits.
View our latest analysis for Landstar System
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 Landstar System is:
41% = US$384m ÷ US$936m (Based on the trailing twelve months to April 2023).
The 'return' is the amount earned after tax over the last twelve months. One way to conceptualize this is that for each $1 of shareholders' capital it has, the company made $0.41 in profit.
What Is The Relationship Between ROE And Earnings Growth?
Thus far, we have learned that ROE measures how efficiently a company is generating its profits. Depending on how much of these profits the company reinvests or "retains", and how effectively it does so, we are then able to assess a company’s earnings growth potential. 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.
Landstar System's Earnings Growth And 41% ROE
First thing first, we like that Landstar System has an impressive ROE. Additionally, the company's ROE is higher compared to the industry average of 21% which is quite remarkable. This likely paved the way for the modest 16% net income growth seen by Landstar System over the past five years. growth
As a next step, we compared Landstar System'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 13%.
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. Doing so will help them establish if the stock's future looks promising or ominous. Is LSTR fairly valued? This infographic on the company's intrinsic value has everything you need to know.
Is Landstar System Efficiently Re-investing Its Profits?
Landstar System has a low three-year median payout ratio of 10%, meaning that the company retains the remaining 90% of its profits. This suggests that the management is reinvesting most of the profits to grow the business.
Besides, Landstar System 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's future payout ratio is expected to rise to 20% over the next three years. Accordingly, the expected increase in the payout ratio explains the expected decline in the company's ROE to 28%, over the same period.
Conclusion
On the whole, we feel that Landstar System's performance has been quite good. Particularly, we like that the company is reinvesting heavily into its business, and at a high rate of return. Unsurprisingly, this has led to an impressive earnings growth. Having said that, the company's earnings growth is expected to slow down, as forecasted in the current analyst estimates. 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.
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