Advertisement

Declining Stock and Decent Financials: Is The Market Wrong About Northern Star Resources Limited (ASX:NST)?

It is hard to get excited after looking at Northern Star Resources' (ASX:NST) recent performance, when its stock has declined 6.3% over the past three months. However, the company's fundamentals look pretty decent, and long-term financials are usually aligned with future market price movements. Specifically, we decided to study Northern Star Resources' 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.

See our latest analysis for Northern Star Resources

How Do You 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 Northern Star Resources is:

5.2% = AU$430m ÷ AU$8.2b (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2022).

The 'return' is the amount earned after tax over the last twelve months. Another way to think of that is that for every A$1 worth of equity, the company was able to earn A$0.05 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. We now need to evaluate how much profit the company reinvests or "retains" for future growth which then gives us an idea about the growth potential of the company. 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 Northern Star Resources' Earnings Growth And 5.2% ROE

At first glance, Northern Star Resources' ROE doesn't look very promising. A quick further study shows that the company's ROE doesn't compare favorably to the industry average of 17% either. However, we we're pleasantly surprised to see that Northern Star Resources grew its net income at a significant rate of 39% in the last five years. Therefore, there could be other reasons behind this growth. Such as - high earnings retention or an efficient management in place.

As a next step, we compared Northern Star Resources' 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 28%.

past-earnings-growth
past-earnings-growth

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. If you're wondering about Northern Star Resources''s valuation, check out this gauge of its price-to-earnings ratio, as compared to its industry.

Is Northern Star Resources Using Its Retained Earnings Effectively?

Northern Star Resources 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. So it seems that Northern Star Resources is reinvesting efficiently in a way that it sees impressive growth in its earnings (discussed above) and pays a dividend that's well covered.

Additionally, Northern Star Resources 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. Based on the latest analysts' estimates, we found that the company's future payout ratio over the next three years is expected to hold steady at 53%. Regardless, the future ROE for Northern Star Resources is predicted to rise to 7.0% despite there being not much change expected in its payout ratio.

Conclusion

Overall, we feel that Northern Star Resources certainly does have some positive factors to consider. With a high rate of reinvestment, albeit at a low ROE, the company has managed to see a considerable growth in its earnings. With that said, the latest industry analyst forecasts reveal that the company's earnings growth is expected to slow down. 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.

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.

Join A Paid User Research Session
You’ll receive a US$30 Amazon Gift card for 1 hour of your time while helping us build better investing tools for the individual investors like yourself. Sign up here