Most readers would already know that NATCO Pharma’s (NSE:NATCOPHARM) stock increased by 5.7% over the past three months. As most would know, long-term fundamentals have a strong correlation with market price movements, so we decided to look at the company’s key financial indicators today to determine if they have any role to play in the recent price movement. Particularly, we will be paying attention to NATCO Pharma’s ROE today.
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. Put another way, it reveals the company’s success at turning shareholder investments into profits.
See our latest analysis for NATCO Pharma
How To Calculate Return On Equity?
The formula for return on equity is:
Return on Equity = Net Profit (from continuing operations) ÷ Shareholders’ Equity
So, based on the above formula, the ROE for NATCO Pharma is:
21% = ₹11b ÷ ₹53b (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 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 ₹0.21 in profit.
What Is The Relationship Between ROE And 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.
NATCO Pharma’s Earnings Growth And 21% ROE
To start with, NATCO Pharma’s ROE looks acceptable. Further, the company’s ROE compares quite favorably to the industry average of 13%. Given the circumstances, we can’t help but wonder why NATCO Pharma saw little to no growth in the past five years. Based on this, we feel that there might be other reasons which haven’t been discussed so far in this article that could be hampering the company’s growth. Such as, the company pays out a huge portion of its earnings as dividends, or is faced with competitive pressures.
As a next step, we compared NATCO Pharma’s net income growth with the industry and discovered that the industry saw an average growth of 16% in the same period.
Earnings growth is a huge factor in stock valuation. 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. Has the market priced in the future outlook for NATCOPHARM? You can find out in our latest intrinsic value infographic research report.
Is NATCO Pharma Making Efficient Use Of Its Profits?
In spite of a normal three-year median payout ratio of 26% (or a retention ratio of 74%), NATCO Pharma hasn’t seen much growth in its earnings. So there could be some other explanation in that regard. For instance, the company’s business may be deteriorating.
Additionally, NATCO Pharma has paid dividends over a period of at least ten years, which means that the company’s management is determined to pay dividends even if it means little to no earnings growth. Our latest analyst data shows that the future payout ratio of the company is expected to drop to 14% over the next three years. Despite the lower expected payout ratio, the company’s ROE is not expected to change by much.
Conclusion
In total, it does look like NATCO Pharma has some positive aspects to its business. However, given the high ROE and high profit retention, we would expect the company to be delivering strong earnings growth, but that isn’t the case here. This suggests that there might be some external threat to the business, that’s hampering its growth. Having said that, looking at current analyst estimates, we found that the company’s earnings growth rate is expected to see a huge improvement. 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.
Valuation is complex, but we’re helping make it simple.
Find out whether NATCO Pharma is potentially over or undervalued by checking out our comprehensive analysis, which includes fair value estimates, risks and warnings, dividends, insider transactions and financial health.
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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.
