Most readers would already be aware that Aptiv’s (NYSE:APTV) stock increased significantly by 5.7% over the past month. Given that stock prices are usually aligned with a company’s financial performance in the long-term, we decided to study its financial indicators more closely to see if they had a hand to play in the recent price move. In this article, we decided to focus on Aptiv’s ROE.
Return on Equity or ROE is a test of how effectively a company is growing its value and managing investors’ money. In other words, it is a profitability ratio which measures the rate of return on the capital provided by the company’s shareholders.
View our latest analysis for Aptiv
How Is ROE Calculated?
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 Aptiv is:
10% = US$982m ÷ US$9.5b (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2023).
The ‘return’ refers to a company’s earnings over the last year. So, this means that for every $1 of its shareholder’s investments, the company generates a profit of $0.10.
Why Is ROE Important For 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.
Aptiv’s Earnings Growth And 10% ROE
At first glance, Aptiv seems to have a decent ROE. Even when compared to the industry average of 12% the company’s ROE looks quite decent. However, while Aptiv has a pretty respectable ROE, its five year net income decline rate was 18% . We reckon that there could be some other factors at play here that are preventing the company’s growth. For example, it could be that the company has a high payout ratio or the business has allocated capital poorly, for instance.
However, when we compared Aptiv’s growth with the industry we found that while the company’s earnings have been shrinking, the industry has seen an earnings growth of 11% in the same period. This is quite worrisome.
Earnings growth is a huge factor in stock valuation. 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. What is APTV worth today? The intrinsic value infographic in our free research report helps visualize whether APTV is currently mispriced by the market.
Is Aptiv Making Efficient Use Of Its Profits?
While the company did payout a portion of its dividend in the past, it currently doesn’t pay a dividend. This implies that potentially all of its profits are being reinvested in the business.
Summary
On the whole, we do feel that Aptiv has some positive attributes. However, given the high ROE and high profit retention, we would expect the company to be delivering strong earnings growth, but that isn’t the case here. This suggests that there might be some external threat to the business, that’s hampering its growth. Having said that, looking at current analyst estimates, we found that the company’s earnings growth rate is expected to see a huge improvement. 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.
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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.