Quartix Technologies Plc's (LON:QTX) Stock On An Uptrend: Could Fundamentals Be Driving The Momentum?
Quartix Technologies (LON:QTX) has had a great run on the share market with its stock up by a significant 10% over the last three months. 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. Specifically, we decided to study Quartix Technologies' ROE in this article.
Return on equity or ROE is a key measure used to assess how efficiently a company's management is utilizing the company's capital. Simply put, it is used to assess the profitability of a company in relation to its equity capital.
See our latest analysis for Quartix Technologies
How To 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 Quartix Technologies is:
22% = UK£4.7m ÷ UK£21m (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2020).
The 'return' is the profit over the last twelve months. That means that for every £1 worth of shareholders' equity, the company generated £0.22 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. 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. 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.
A Side By Side comparison of Quartix Technologies' Earnings Growth And 22% ROE
Firstly, we acknowledge that Quartix Technologies has a significantly high ROE. Second, a comparison with the average ROE reported by the industry of 13% also doesn't go unnoticed by us. Given the circumstances, we can't help but wonder why Quartix Technologies saw little to no growth in the past five years. So, there could be some other aspects that could potentially be preventing the company from growing. Such as, the company pays out a huge portion of its earnings as dividends, or is faced with competitive pressures.
As a next step, we compared Quartix Technologies' net income growth with the industry and were disappointed to see that the company's growth is lower than the industry average growth of 13% in the same period.
Earnings growth is an important metric to consider when valuing a stock. What investors need to determine next is if the expected earnings growth, or the lack of it, is already built into the share price. Doing so will help them establish if the stock's future looks promising or ominous. One good indicator of expected earnings growth is the P/E ratio which determines the price the market is willing to pay for a stock based on its earnings prospects. So, you may want to check if Quartix Technologies is trading on a high P/E or a low P/E, relative to its industry.
Is Quartix Technologies Making Efficient Use Of Its Profits?
Despite having a moderate three-year median payout ratio of 44% (meaning the company retains56% of profits) in the last three-year period, Quartix Technologies' earnings growth was more or les flat. Therefore, there might be some other reasons to explain the lack in that respect. For example, the business could be in decline.
Additionally, Quartix Technologies has paid dividends over a period of six years, which means that the company's management is determined to pay dividends even if it means little to no earnings growth. Upon studying the latest analysts' consensus data, we found that the company's future payout ratio is expected to rise to 139% over the next three years. However, Quartix Technologies' future ROE is expected to rise to 27% despite the expected increase in the company's payout ratio. We infer that there could be other factors that could be driving the anticipated growth in the company's ROE.
Summary
On the whole, we do feel that Quartix Technologies has some positive attributes. Yet, the low earnings growth is a bit concerning, especially given that the company has a high rate of return and is reinvesting ma huge portion of its profits. By the looks of it, there could be some other factors, not necessarily in control of the business, that's preventing growth. With that said, the latest industry analyst forecasts reveal that the company's earnings are expected to accelerate. 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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