Yahoo Finance Are Robust Financials Driving The Recent Rally In Enghouse Systems Limited's (TSE:ENGH) Stock?
Most readers would already be aware that Enghouse Systems' (TSE:ENGH) stock increased significantly by 66% over the past three months. Since the market usually pay for a company’s long-term fundamentals, we decided to study the company’s key performance indicators to see if they could be influencing the market. Particularly, we will be paying attention to Enghouse Systems' ROE today.
Return on Equity or ROE is a test of how effectively a company is growing its value and managing investors’ money. In other words, it is a profitability ratio which measures the rate of return on the capital provided by the company's shareholders.
View our latest analysis for Enghouse Systems
How To Calculate Return On Equity?
Return on equity 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 Enghouse Systems is:
18% = CA$83m ÷ CA$451m (Based on the trailing twelve months to April 2020).
The 'return' is the yearly profit. One way to conceptualize this is that for each CA$1 of shareholders' capital it has, the company made CA$0.18 in profit.
What Is The Relationship Between ROE And Earnings Growth?
Thus far, we have learnt 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 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.
A Side By Side comparison of Enghouse Systems' Earnings Growth And 18% ROE
To start with, Enghouse Systems' ROE looks acceptable. Even when compared to the industry average of 21% the company's ROE looks quite decent. Consequently, this likely laid the ground for the decent growth of 18% seen over the past five years by Enghouse Systems.
We then compared Enghouse Systems' 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.
The basis for attaching value to a company is, to a great extent, tied to its earnings growth. 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. 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 Enghouse Systems is trading on a high P/E or a low P/E, relative to its industry.
Is Enghouse Systems Making Efficient Use Of Its Profits?
Enghouse Systems has a three-year median payout ratio of 34%, which implies that it retains the remaining 66% of its profits. This suggests that its dividend is well covered, and given the decent growth seen by the company, it looks like management is reinvesting its earnings efficiently.
Moreover, Enghouse Systems is determined to keep sharing its profits with shareholders which we infer from its long history of paying a dividend for at least ten years.
Conclusion
In total, we are pretty happy with Enghouse Systems' performance. Specifically, we like that the company is reinvesting a huge chunk of its profits at a high rate of return. This of course has caused the company to see substantial growth in its earnings. With that said, the latest industry analyst forecasts reveal that the company's earnings growth is expected to slow down. 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.
This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. 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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