Sirius Real Estate (LON:SRE) has had a rough week with its share price down 3.6%. It seems that the market might have completely ignored the positive aspects of the company’s fundamentals and decided to weigh-in more on the negative aspects. Stock prices are usually driven by a company’s financial performance over the long term, and therefore we decided to pay more attention to the company’s financial performance. Specifically, we decided to study Sirius Real Estate’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 other words, it is a profitability ratio which measures the rate of return on the capital provided by the company’s shareholders.
See our latest analysis for Sirius Real Estate
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 Sirius Real Estate is:
3.4% = €41m ÷ €1.2b (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2023).
The ‘return’ is the profit over the last twelve months. That means that for every £1 worth of shareholders’ equity, the company generated £0.03 in profit.
What Has ROE Got To Do With Earnings Growth?
So far, we’ve learned that ROE is a measure of a company’s profitability. 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.
Sirius Real Estate’s Earnings Growth And 3.4% ROE
It is quite clear that Sirius Real Estate’s ROE is rather low. Even when compared to the industry average of 7.7%, the ROE figure is pretty disappointing. Given the circumstances, the significant decline in net income by 3.1% seen by Sirius Real Estate over the last five years is not surprising. However, there could also be other factors causing the earnings to decline. For instance, the company has a very high payout ratio, or is faced with competitive pressures.
So, as a next step, we compared Sirius Real Estate’s performance against the industry and were disappointed to discover that while the company has been shrinking its earnings, the industry has been growing its earnings at a rate of 12% over the last few years.
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). By doing so, they will have an idea if the stock is headed into clear blue waters or if swampy waters await. Has the market priced in the future outlook for SRE? You can find out in our latest intrinsic value infographic research report.
Is Sirius Real Estate Using Its Retained Earnings Effectively?
Despite having a normal three-year median payout ratio of 36% (where it is retaining 64% of its profits), Sirius Real Estate has seen a decline in earnings as we saw above. It looks like there might be some other reasons to explain the lack in that respect. For example, the business could be in decline.
Additionally, Sirius Real Estate has paid dividends over a period of nine years, which means that the company’s management is rather focused on keeping up its dividend payments, regardless of the shrinking earnings. Looking at the current analyst consensus data, we can see that the company’s future payout ratio is expected to rise to 72% over the next three years. However, Sirius Real Estate’s future ROE is expected to rise to 7.2% despite the expected increase in the company’s payout ratio. We infer that there could be other factors that could be driving the anticipated growth in the company’s ROE.
Conclusion
Overall, we have mixed feelings about Sirius Real Estate. While the company does have a high rate of reinvestment, the low ROE means that all that reinvestment is not reaping any benefit to its investors, and moreover, its having a negative impact on the earnings growth. That being so, the latest industry analyst forecasts show that the analysts are expecting to see a huge improvement in the company’s earnings growth rate. To know more about the company’s future earnings growth forecasts take a look at this free report on analyst forecasts for the company to find out more.
Valuation is complex, but we’re helping make it simple.
Find out whether Sirius Real Estate 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.
Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.
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.
This post was originally published on this site be sure to check out more of their content.
