Casey's General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY) has had a great run on the share market with its stock up by a significant 11% over the last month. 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. Specifically, we decided to study Casey's General Stores' 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 short, ROE shows the profit each dollar generates with respect to its shareholder investments.

See our latest analysis for Casey's General Stores

How Is ROE Calculated?

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 Casey's General Stores is:

16% = US$535m ÷ US$3.3b (Based on the trailing twelve months to October 2024).

The 'return' refers to a company's earnings over the last year. That means that for every $1 worth of shareholders' equity, the company generated $0.16 in profit.

Why Is ROE Important For Earnings Growth?

Thus far, we have learned that ROE measures how efficiently a company is generating its profits. 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.

Casey's General Stores' Earnings Growth And 16% ROE

At first glance, Casey's General Stores seems to have a decent ROE. Even when compared to the industry average of 15% the company's ROE looks quite decent. This probably goes some way in explaining Casey's General Stores' moderate 16% growth over the past five years amongst other factors.

We then compared Casey's General Stores' 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 12% in the same 5-year period.

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). Doing so will help them establish if the stock's future looks promising or ominous. Is CASY fairly valued? This infographic on the company's intrinsic value has everything you need to know.

Is Casey's General Stores Making Efficient Use Of Its Profits?

Casey's General Stores has a low three-year median payout ratio of 13%, meaning that the company retains the remaining 87% of its profits. This suggests that the management is reinvesting most of the profits to grow the business.

Additionally, Casey's General Stores 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 14%. As a result, Casey's General Stores' ROE is not expected to change by much either, which we inferred from the analyst estimate of 17% for future ROE.

Summary

In total, we are pretty happy with Casey's General Stores' 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. To know more about the company's future earnings growth forecasts take a look at this free report on analyst forecasts for the company to find out more.

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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.