U-Haul Holding Company’s (NYSE:UHAL) Stock Has Shown A Decent Performance: Have Financials A Role To Play?

U-Haul Holding’s (NYSE:UHAL) stock is up by 2.2% over the past month. We wonder if and what role the company’s financials play in that price change as a company’s long-term fundamentals usually dictate market outcomes. In this article, we decided to focus on U-Haul Holding’s ROE.

Return on equity or ROE is a key measure used to assess how efficiently a company’s management is utilizing the company’s capital. Simply put, it is used to assess the profitability of a company in relation to its equity capital.

Check out our latest analysis for U-Haul Holding

How To Calculate Return On Equity?

ROE 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 U-Haul Holding is:

9.4% = US$666m ÷ US$7.1b (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2023).

The ‘return’ is the income the business earned over the last year. Another way to think of that is that for every $1 worth of equity, the company was able to earn $0.09 in profit.

What Has ROE Got To Do With Earnings Growth?

Thus far, we have learned that ROE measures how efficiently a company is generating its profits. 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.

A Side By Side comparison of U-Haul Holding’s Earnings Growth And 9.4% ROE

On the face of it, U-Haul Holding’s ROE is not much to talk about. Next, when compared to the average industry ROE of 14%, the company’s ROE leaves us feeling even less enthusiastic. However, the moderate 20% net income growth seen by U-Haul Holding over the past five years is definitely a positive. We reckon that there could be other factors at play here. For instance, the company has a low payout ratio or is being managed efficiently.

We then compared U-Haul Holding’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 15% in the same 5-year period.

Earnings growth is a huge factor in stock valuation. 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. If you’re wondering about U-Haul Holding’s’s valuation, check out this gauge of its price-to-earnings ratio, as compared to its industry.

Is U-Haul Holding Using Its Retained Earnings Effectively?

Conclusion

In total, it does look like U-Haul Holding has some positive aspects to its business. Despite its low rate of return, the fact that the company reinvests a very high portion of its profits into its business, no doubt contributed to its high earnings growth. While we won’t completely dismiss the company, what we would do, is try to ascertain how risky the business is to make a more informed decision around the company. Our risks dashboard would have the 2 risks we have identified for U-Haul Holding.