Is Meier Tobler Group AG's (VTX:MTG) Stock's Recent Performance Being Led By Its Attractive Financial Prospects?

Meier Tobler Group's (VTX:MTG) stock is up by a considerable 18% over the past three months. Given the company's impressive performance, we decided to study its financial indicators more closely as a company's financial health over the long-term usually dictates market outcomes. Particularly, we will be paying attention to Meier Tobler Group's ROE today.

Return on Equity or ROE is a test of how effectively a company is growing its value and managing investors’ money. In simpler terms, it measures the profitability of a company in relation to shareholder's equity.

View our latest analysis for Meier Tobler Group

How Is ROE Calculated?

The formula for ROE is:

Return on Equity = Net Profit (from continuing operations) ÷ Shareholders' Equity

So, based on the above formula, the ROE for Meier Tobler Group is:

15% = CHF23m ÷ CHF159m (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2022).

The 'return' is the profit over the last twelve months. So, this means that for every CHF1 of its shareholder's investments, the company generates a profit of CHF0.15.

What Is The Relationship Between ROE And Earnings Growth?

We have already established that ROE serves as an efficient profit-generating gauge for a company's future earnings. 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. 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.

Meier Tobler Group's Earnings Growth And 15% ROE

To begin with, Meier Tobler Group seems to have a respectable ROE. Further, the company's ROE is similar to the industry average of 16%. This certainly adds some context to Meier Tobler Group's exceptional 56% net income growth seen over the past five years. We reckon that there could also be other factors at play here. For instance, the company has a low payout ratio or is being managed efficiently.

We then compared Meier Tobler Group'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 1.0% in the same period.

Earnings growth is an important metric to consider when valuing a stock. The investor should try to establish if the expected growth or decline in earnings, whichever the case may be, is priced in. Doing so will help them establish if the stock's future looks promising or ominous. One good indicator of expected earnings growth is the P/E ratio which determines the price the market is willing to pay for a stock based on its earnings prospects. So, you may want to check if Meier Tobler Group is trading on a high P/E or a low P/E, relative to its industry.

Is Meier Tobler Group Using Its Retained Earnings Effectively?

Meier Tobler Group has a significant three-year median payout ratio of 61%, meaning the company only retains 39% of its income. This implies that the company has been able to achieve high earnings growth despite returning most of its profits to shareholders.

Additionally, Meier Tobler Group 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. Upon studying the latest analysts' consensus data, we found that the company is expected to keep paying out approximately 50% of its profits over the next three years. Accordingly, forecasts suggest that Meier Tobler Group's future ROE will be 16% which is again, similar to the current ROE.

Summary

Overall, we are quite pleased with Meier Tobler Group's performance. We are particularly impressed by the considerable earnings growth posted by the company, which was likely backed by its high ROE. While the company is paying out most of its earnings as dividends, it has been able to grow its earnings in spite of it, so that's probably a good sign. Having said that, the company's earnings growth is expected to slow down, as forecasted in the current analyst estimates. To know more about the latest analysts predictions for the company, check out this visualization of analyst forecasts for the company.

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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.

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