Yahoo Finance Are Robust Financials Driving The Recent Rally In FirstService Corporation's (TSE:FSV) Stock?
FirstService (TSE:FSV) has had a great run on the share market with its stock up by a significant 13% over the last month. Given the company's impressive performance, we decided to study its financial indicators more closely as a company's financial health over the long-term usually dictates market outcomes. In this article, we decided to focus on FirstService'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 short, ROE shows the profit each dollar generates with respect to its shareholder investments.
View our latest analysis for FirstService
How Do You 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 FirstService is:
13% = US$136m ÷ US$1.1b (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2022).
The 'return' is the income the business earned over the last year. So, this means that for every CA$1 of its shareholder's investments, the company generates a profit of CA$0.13.
Why Is ROE Important For Earnings Growth?
Thus far, we have learned that ROE measures how efficiently a company is generating its profits. 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.
A Side By Side comparison of FirstService's Earnings Growth And 13% ROE
To start with, FirstService's ROE looks acceptable. Further, the company's ROE is similar to the industry average of 13%. This certainly adds some context to FirstService's exceptional 23% net income growth seen over the past five years. We reckon that there could also 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.
We then compared FirstService'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 18% in the same period.
Earnings growth is a huge factor in stock valuation. The investor should try to establish if the expected growth or decline in earnings, whichever the case may be, is priced in. This then helps them determine if the stock is placed for a bright or bleak future. Is FirstService fairly valued compared to other companies? These 3 valuation measures might help you decide.
Is FirstService Efficiently Re-investing Its Profits?
FirstService's three-year median payout ratio is a pretty moderate 27%, meaning the company retains 73% of its income. By the looks of it, the dividend is well covered and FirstService is reinvesting its profits efficiently as evidenced by its exceptional growth which we discussed above.
Moreover, FirstService is determined to keep sharing its profits with shareholders which we infer from its long history of eight years of paying a dividend. Existing analyst estimates suggest that the company's future payout ratio is expected to drop to 20% over the next three years. However, the company's ROE is not expected to change by much despite the lower expected payout ratio.
Summary
On the whole, we feel that FirstService'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. With that said, the latest industry analyst forecasts reveal that the company's earnings growth is expected to slow down. 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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