With its stock down 21% over the past three months, it is easy to disregard Kelt Exploration (TSE:KEL). However, stock prices are usually driven by a company’s financials over the long term, which in this case look pretty respectable. Specifically, we decided to study Kelt Exploration’s ROE in this article.
Return on Equity or ROE is a test of how effectively a company is growing its value and managing investors’ money. Put another way, it reveals the company’s success at turning shareholder investments into profits.
View our latest analysis for Kelt Exploration
How To Calculate Return On Equity?
The formula for ROE is:
Return on Equity = Net Profit (from continuing operations) ÷ Shareholders’ Equity
So, based on the above formula, the ROE for Kelt Exploration is:
19% = CA$158m ÷ CA$845m (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2022).
The ‘return’ is the amount earned after tax over the last twelve months. One way to conceptualize this is that for each CA$1 of shareholders’ capital it has, the company made CA$0.19 in profit.
What Has ROE Got To Do With 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. 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.
Kelt Exploration’s Earnings Growth And 19% ROE
To begin with, Kelt Exploration seems to have a respectable ROE. Yet, the fact that the company’s ROE is lower than the industry average of 25% does temper our expectations. Although, we can see that Kelt Exploration saw a modest net income growth of 14% over the past five years. Therefore, the growth in earnings could probably have been caused by other variables. For instance, the company has a low payout ratio or is being managed efficiently. Bear in mind, the company does have a respectable level of ROE. It is just that the industry ROE is higher. So this also does lend some color to the fairly high earnings growth seen by the company.
We then compared Kelt Exploration’s net income growth with the industry and found that the company’s growth figure is lower than the average industry growth rate of 34% in the same period, which is a bit concerning.
The basis for attaching value to a company is, to a great extent, tied to its earnings growth. 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. Is Kelt Exploration fairly valued compared to other companies? These 3 valuation measures might help you decide.
Is Kelt Exploration Using Its Retained Earnings Effectively?
Kelt Exploration doesn’t pay any dividend currently which essentially means that it has been reinvesting all of its profits into the business. This definitely contributes to the decent earnings growth number that we discussed above.
Conclusion
In total, it does look like Kelt Exploration has some positive aspects to its business. In particular, it’s great to see that the company is investing heavily into its business and along with a moderate rate of return, that has resulted in a respectable growth in its earnings. Having said that, on studying current analyst estimates, we were concerned to see that while the company has grown its earnings in the past, analysts expect its earnings to shrink in the future. 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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