Yahoo Finance Are Robust Financials Driving The Recent Rally In Landstar System, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:LSTR) Stock?
Landstar System's (NASDAQ:LSTR) stock is up by a considerable 13% over the past month. Given that the market rewards strong financials in the long-term, we wonder if that is the case in this instance. Specifically, we decided to study Landstar System's ROE in this article.
Return on Equity or ROE is a test of how effectively a company is growing its value and managing investors’ money. Put another way, it reveals the company's success at turning shareholder investments into profits.
View our latest analysis for Landstar System
How To 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 Landstar System is:
52% = US$451m ÷ US$873m (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 $1 of its shareholder's investments, the company generates a profit of $0.52.
What Has ROE Got To Do With Earnings Growth?
We have already established that ROE serves as an efficient profit-generating gauge for a company's future earnings. 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.
Landstar System's Earnings Growth And 52% 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 25% which is quite remarkable. Probably as a result of this, Landstar System was able to see a decent net income growth of 17% over the last five years.
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 11%.
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. By doing so, they will have an idea if the stock is headed into clear blue waters or if swampy waters await. If you're wondering about Landstar System's's valuation, check out this gauge of its price-to-earnings ratio, as compared to its industry.
Is Landstar System Making Efficient Use Of Its Profits?
In Landstar System's case, its respectable earnings growth can probably be explained by its low three-year median payout ratio of 11% (or a retention ratio of 89%), which suggests that the company is investing most of its profits to grow its business.
Moreover, Landstar System 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. Upon studying the latest analysts' consensus data, we found that the company's future payout ratio is expected to rise to 24% 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.
Summary
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. That being so, according to the latest industry analyst forecasts, the company's earnings are expected to shrink in the future. 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.
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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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