It is hard to get excited after looking at Perrigo's (NYSE:PRGO) recent performance, when its stock has declined 5.0% over the past week. But if you pay close attention, you might find that its key financial indicators look quite decent, which could mean that the stock could potentially rise in the long-term given how markets usually reward more resilient long-term fundamentals. Specifically, we decided to study Perrigo's ROE in this article.

Return on equity or ROE is an important factor to be considered by a shareholder because it tells them how effectively their capital is being reinvested. In other words, it is a profitability ratio which measures the rate of return on the capital provided by the company's shareholders.

Check out our latest analysis for Perrigo

How Do You Calculate Return On Equity?

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 Perrigo is:

3.3% = US$189m ÷ US$5.8b (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2020).

The 'return' is the income the business earned over the last year. Another way to think of that is that for every $1 worth of equity, the company was able to earn $0.03 in profit.

Why Is ROE Important For 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.

Perrigo's Earnings Growth And 3.3% ROE

It is quite clear that Perrigo's ROE is rather low. Even compared to the average industry ROE of 19%, the company's ROE is quite dismal. Despite this, surprisingly, Perrigo saw an exceptional 27% net income growth over the past five years. Therefore, there could be other reasons behind this growth. For example, it is possible that the company's management has made some good strategic decisions, or that the company has a low payout ratio.

We then compared Perrigo'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 17% in the same 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. By doing so, they will have an idea if the stock is headed into clear blue waters or if swampy waters await. Is Perrigo fairly valued compared to other companies? These 3 valuation measures might help you decide.

Is Perrigo Using Its Retained Earnings Effectively?

The high three-year median payout ratio of 74% (implying that it keeps only 26% of profits) for Perrigo suggests that the company's growth wasn't really hampered despite it returning most of the earnings to its shareholders.

Additionally, Perrigo 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. Upon studying the latest analysts' consensus data, we found that the company's future payout ratio is expected to drop to 21% over the next three years. The fact that the company's ROE is expected to rise to 10% over the same period is explained by the drop in the payout ratio.

Conclusion

On the whole, we do feel that Perrigo has some positive attributes. While no doubt its earnings growth is pretty substantial, we do feel that the reinvestment rate is pretty low, meaning, the earnings growth number could have been significantly higher had the company been retaining more of its profits. 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.

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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