Yahoo Finance Are Wajax Corporation's (TSE:WJX) Fundamentals Good Enough to Warrant Buying Given The Stock's Recent Weakness?
With its stock down 9.0% over the past three months, it is easy to disregard Wajax (TSE:WJX). However, stock prices are usually driven by a company’s financials over the long term, which in this case look pretty respectable. Specifically, we decided to study Wajax's ROE in this article.
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 simpler terms, it measures the profitability of a company in relation to shareholder's equity.
View our latest analysis for Wajax
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 Wajax is:
14% = CA$60m ÷ CA$421m (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2022).
The 'return' is the income the business earned over the last year. One way to conceptualize this is that for each CA$1 of shareholders' capital it has, the company made CA$0.14 in profit.
Why Is ROE Important For Earnings Growth?
We have already established that ROE serves as an efficient profit-generating gauge for a company's future earnings. 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 all else is equal, companies that have both a higher return on equity and higher profit retention are usually the ones that have a higher growth rate when compared to companies that don't have the same features.
Wajax's Earnings Growth And 14% ROE
To begin with, Wajax seems to have a respectable ROE. Be that as it may, the company's ROE is still quite lower than the industry average of 21%. However, the moderate 13% net income growth seen by Wajax over the past five years is definitely a positive. Therefore, the growth in earnings could probably have been caused by other variables. Such as - high earnings retention or an efficient management in place. Bear in mind, the company does have a respectable level of ROE. It is just that the industry ROE is higher. So this also does lend some color to the fairly high earnings growth seen by the company.
Next, on comparing with the industry net income growth, we found that Wajax's reported growth was lower than the industry growth of 24% in the same period, which is not something we like to see.
Earnings growth is an important metric to consider when valuing a stock. It’s important for an investor to know whether the market has priced in the company's expected earnings growth (or decline). This then helps them determine if the stock is placed for a bright or bleak future. 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 Wajax is trading on a high P/E or a low P/E, relative to its industry.
Is Wajax Efficiently Re-investing Its Profits?
While Wajax has a three-year median payout ratio of 51% (which means it retains 49% of profits), the company has still seen a fair bit of earnings growth in the past, meaning that its high payout ratio hasn't hampered its ability to grow.
Additionally, Wajax has paid dividends over a period of at least ten years which means that the company is pretty serious about sharing its profits with shareholders.
Conclusion
On the whole, we do feel that Wajax has some positive attributes. While no doubt its earnings growth is pretty decent, we do feel that the reinvestment rate is pretty low. Meaning, the earnings growth number could have been significantly higher, had the company been retaining more of its profits. So far, we've only made a quick discussion around the company's earnings growth. So it may be worth checking this free detailed graph of Wajax's past earnings, as well as revenue and cash flows to get a deeper insight into the company's performance.
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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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