YouGov's (LON:YOU) stock is up by a considerable 12% over the past three months. Given that the market rewards strong financials in the long-term, we wonder if that is the case in this instance. Specifically, we decided to study YouGov's ROE in this article.

Return on equity or ROE is a key measure used to assess how efficiently a company's management is utilizing the company's capital. Simply put, it is used to assess the profitability of a company in relation to its equity capital.

See our latest analysis for YouGov

How Is ROE Calculated?

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 YouGov is:

14% = UK£18m ÷ UK£125m (Based on the trailing twelve months to July 2022).

The 'return' is the income the business earned over the last year. So, this means that for every £1 of its shareholder's investments, the company generates a profit of £0.14.

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. 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.

YouGov's Earnings Growth And 14% ROE

To start with, YouGov's ROE looks acceptable. On comparing with the average industry ROE of 11% the company's ROE looks pretty remarkable. Probably as a result of this, YouGov was able to see a decent growth of 14% over the last five years.

As a next step, we compared YouGov'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 9.3%.

Earnings growth is an important metric to consider when valuing a stock. What investors need to determine next is if the expected earnings growth, or the lack of it, is already built into the share price. This then helps them determine if the stock is placed for a bright or bleak future. What is YOU worth today? The intrinsic value infographic in our free research report helps visualize whether YOU is currently mispriced by the market.

Is YouGov Using Its Retained Earnings Effectively?

The high three-year median payout ratio of 52% (or a retention ratio of 48%) for YouGov suggests that the company's growth wasn't really hampered despite it returning most of its income to its shareholders.

Additionally, YouGov 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. Existing analyst estimates suggest that the company's future payout ratio is expected to drop to 22% over the next three years. As a result, the expected drop in YouGov's payout ratio explains the anticipated rise in the company's future ROE to 25%, over the same period.

Summary

Overall, we are quite pleased with YouGov's performance. In particular, its high ROE is quite noteworthy and also the probable explanation behind its considerable earnings growth. Yet, the company is retaining a small portion of its profits. Which means that the company has been able to grow its earnings in spite of it, so that's not too bad. That being so, the latest analyst forecasts show that the company will continue to see an expansion in its earnings. 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.

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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