Yahoo Finance Is Republic Services Inc’s (NYSE:RSG) 17.3% ROE Strong Compared To Its Industry?
I am writing today to help inform people who are new to the stock market and want to start learning about core concepts of fundamental analysis on practical examples from today’s market.
Republic Services Inc (NYSE:RSG) delivered an ROE of 17.3% over the past 12 months, which is an impressive feat relative to its industry average of 12.1% during the same period. While the impressive ratio tells us that RSG has made significant profits from little equity capital, ROE doesn’t tell us if RSG has borrowed debt to make this happen. Today, we’ll take a closer look at some factors like financial leverage to see how sustainable RSG’s ROE is.
See our latest analysis for Republic Services
Breaking down Return on Equity
Return on Equity (ROE) weighs Republic Services’s profit against the level of its shareholders’ equity. For example, if the company invests $1 in the form of equity, it will generate $0.17 in earnings from this. In most cases, a higher ROE is preferred; however, there are many other factors we must consider prior to making any investment decisions.
Return on Equity = Net Profit ÷ Shareholders Equity
ROE is assessed against cost of equity, which is measured using the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) – but let’s not dive into the details of that today. For now, let’s just look at the cost of equity number for Republic Services, which is 8.6%. Since Republic Services’s return covers its cost in excess of 8.8%, its use of equity capital is efficient and likely to be sustainable. Simply put, Republic Services pays less for its capital than what it generates in return. ROE can be split up into three useful ratios: net profit margin, asset turnover, and financial leverage. This is called the Dupont Formula:
Dupont Formula
ROE = profit margin × asset turnover × financial leverage
ROE = (annual net profit ÷ sales) × (sales ÷ assets) × (assets ÷ shareholders’ equity)
ROE = annual net profit ÷ shareholders’ equity
Basically, profit margin measures how much of revenue trickles down into earnings which illustrates how efficient the business is with its cost management. The other component, asset turnover, illustrates how much revenue Republic Services can make from its asset base. Finally, financial leverage will be our main focus today. It shows how much of assets are funded by equity and can show how sustainable the company’s capital structure is. Since ROE can be inflated by excessive debt, we need to examine Republic Services’s debt-to-equity level. Currently the debt-to-equity ratio stands at a balanced 105%, which means its above-average ROE is driven by its ability to grow its profit without a significant debt burden.
Next Steps:
ROE is a simple yet informative ratio, illustrating the various components that each measure the quality of the overall stock. Republic Services’s above-industry ROE is encouraging, and is also in excess of its cost of equity. ROE is not likely to be inflated by excessive debt funding, giving shareholders more conviction in the sustainability of high returns. ROE is a helpful signal, but it is definitely not sufficient on its own to make an investment decision.
For Republic Services, I’ve compiled three fundamental aspects you should further examine:
Financial Health: Does it have a healthy balance sheet? Take a look at our free balance sheet analysis with six simple checks on key factors like leverage and risk.
Valuation: What is Republic Services worth today? Is the stock undervalued, even when its growth outlook is factored into its intrinsic value? The intrinsic value infographic in our free research report helps visualize whether Republic Services is currently mispriced by the market.
Other High-Growth Alternatives : Are there other high-growth stocks you could be holding instead of Republic Services? Explore our interactive list of stocks with large growth potential to get an idea of what else is out there you may be missing!
To help readers see past the short term volatility of the financial market, we aim to bring you a long-term focused research analysis purely driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis does not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements.
The author is an independent contributor and at the time of publication had no position in the stocks mentioned. For errors that warrant correction please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com.
