It is hard to get excited after looking at Sonova Holding’s (VTX:SOON) recent performance, when its stock has declined 6.4% over the past three months. However, a closer look at its sound financials might cause you to think again. Given that fundamentals usually drive long-term market outcomes, the company is worth looking at. Particularly, we will be paying attention to Sonova Holding’s ROE today.
Return on equity or ROE is a key measure used to assess how efficiently a company’s management is utilizing the company’s capital. Put another way, it reveals the company’s success at turning shareholder investments into profits.
Check out our latest analysis for Sonova Holding
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 Sonova Holding is:
29% = CHF658m ÷ CHF2.2b (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2023).
The ‘return’ is the amount earned after tax over the last twelve months. Another way to think of that is that for every CHF1 worth of equity, the company was able to earn CHF0.29 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. 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. 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.
Sonova Holding’s Earnings Growth And 29% ROE
Firstly, we acknowledge that Sonova Holding has a significantly high ROE. Secondly, even when compared to the industry average of 17% the company’s ROE is quite impressive. This likely paved the way for the modest 10% net income growth seen by Sonova Holding over the past five years.
We then performed a comparison between Sonova Holding’s net income growth with the industry, which revealed that the company’s growth is similar to the average industry growth of 11% in the same 5-year period.
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. This then helps them determine if the stock is placed for a bright or bleak future. What is SOON worth today? The intrinsic value infographic in our free research report helps visualize whether SOON is currently mispriced by the market.
Is Sonova Holding Efficiently Re-investing Its Profits?
Sonova Holding has a healthy combination of a moderate three-year median payout ratio of 41% (or a retention ratio of 59%) and a respectable amount of growth in earnings as we saw above, meaning that the company has been making efficient use of its profits.
Additionally, Sonova Holding 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 40%. Therefore, the company’s future ROE is also not expected to change by much with analysts predicting an ROE of 29%.
Summary
Overall, we are quite pleased with Sonova Holding’s performance. In particular, it’s great to see that the company is investing heavily into its business and along with a high rate of return, that has resulted in a sizeable growth in its earnings. With that said, the latest industry analyst forecasts reveal that the company’s earnings growth is expected to slow down. 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.