Is Cerillion Plc's (LON:CER) Latest Stock Performance A Reflection Of Its Financial Health?

Cerillion (LON:CER) has had a great run on the share market with its stock up by a significant 41% over the last three months. Since the market usually pay for a company’s long-term fundamentals, we decided to study the company’s key performance indicators to see if they could be influencing the market. Specifically, we decided to study Cerillion's ROE in this article.

Return on equity or ROE is an important factor to be considered by a shareholder because it tells them how effectively their capital is being reinvested. Put another way, it reveals the company's success at turning shareholder investments into profits.

Check out our latest analysis for Cerillion

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 Cerillion is:

37% = UK£8.4m ÷ UK£23m (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2022).

The 'return' refers to a company's earnings over the last year. That means that for every £1 worth of shareholders' equity, the company generated £0.37 in profit.

What Is The Relationship Between ROE And Earnings Growth?

So far, we've learned that ROE is a measure of a company's profitability. 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 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.

A Side By Side comparison of Cerillion's Earnings Growth And 37% ROE

Firstly, we acknowledge that Cerillion has a significantly high ROE. Additionally, the company's ROE is higher compared to the industry average of 7.5% which is quite remarkable. Under the circumstances, Cerillion's considerable five year net income growth of 35% was to be expected.

As a next step, we compared Cerillion'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 9.1%.

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. Is Cerillion fairly valued compared to other companies? These 3 valuation measures might help you decide.

Is Cerillion Efficiently Re-investing Its Profits?

Cerillion has a three-year median payout ratio of 45% (where it is retaining 55% of its income) which is not too low or not too high. This suggests that its dividend is well covered, and given the high growth we discussed above, it looks like Cerillion is reinvesting its earnings efficiently.

Additionally, Cerillion has paid dividends over a period of six years which means that the company is pretty serious about sharing its profits with shareholders. Existing analyst estimates suggest that the company's future payout ratio is expected to drop to 29% over the next three years. Despite the lower expected payout ratio, the company's ROE is not expected to change by much.

Conclusion

Overall, we are quite pleased with Cerillion's performance. In particular, it's great to see that the company is investing heavily into its business and along with a high rate of return, that has resulted in a sizeable growth in its earnings. That being so, a study of the latest analyst forecasts show that the company is expected to see a slowdown in its future earnings growth. To know more about the latest analysts predictions for the company, check out this visualization of analyst forecasts for the company.

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.

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