Charles River Laboratories International, Inc.'s (NYSE:CRL) Stock Is Going Strong: Is the Market Following Fundamentals?

Simply Wall St
·3 min read

Most readers would already be aware that Charles River Laboratories International's (NYSE:CRL) stock increased significantly by 13% over the past three months. Since the market usually pay for a company’s long-term fundamentals, we decided to study the company’s key performance indicators to see if they could be influencing the market. Particularly, we will be paying attention to Charles River Laboratories International's ROE today.

ROE or return on equity is a useful tool to assess how effectively a company can generate returns on the investment it received from its shareholders. Simply put, it is used to assess the profitability of a company in relation to its equity capital.

View our latest analysis for Charles River Laboratories International

How To Calculate Return On Equity?

ROE 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 Charles River Laboratories International is:

17% = US$365m ÷ US$2.1b (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2020).

The 'return' is the yearly profit. So, this means that for every $1 of its shareholder's investments, the company generates a profit of $0.17.

Why Is ROE Important For Earnings Growth?

We have already established that ROE serves as an efficient profit-generating gauge for a company's future earnings. We now need to evaluate how much profit the company reinvests or "retains" for future growth which then gives us an idea about the growth potential of the company. 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.

Charles River Laboratories International's Earnings Growth And 17% ROE

To begin with, Charles River Laboratories International seems to have a respectable ROE. Further, the company's ROE is similar to the industry average of 15%. Consequently, this likely laid the ground for the decent growth of 17% seen over the past five years by Charles River Laboratories International.

We then compared Charles River Laboratories International'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 14% in the same period.

past-earnings-growth
past-earnings-growth

Earnings growth is an important metric to consider when valuing a stock. 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. Has the market priced in the future outlook for CRL? You can find out in our latest intrinsic value infographic research report.

Is Charles River Laboratories International Efficiently Re-investing Its Profits?

Conclusion

In total, we are pretty happy with Charles River Laboratories International'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. That being so, a study of the latest analyst forecasts show that the company is expected to see a slowdown in its future earnings growth. 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.

This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. 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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