With its stock down 6.2% over the past month, it is easy to disregard Reliance Worldwide (ASX:RWC). We, however decided to study the company's financials to determine if they have got anything to do with the price decline. Fundamentals usually dictate market outcomes so it makes sense to study the company's financials. Particularly, we will be paying attention to Reliance Worldwide's ROE today.

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 simpler terms, it measures the profitability of a company in relation to shareholder's equity.

Check out our latest analysis for Reliance Worldwide

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 Reliance Worldwide is:

9.9% = US$126m ÷ US$1.3b (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2024).

The 'return' refers to a company's earnings over the last year. Another way to think of that is that for every A$1 worth of equity, the company was able to earn A$0.10 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 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.

A Side By Side comparison of Reliance Worldwide's Earnings Growth And 9.9% ROE

On the face of it, Reliance Worldwide's ROE is not much to talk about. However, its ROE is similar to the industry average of 8.8%, so we won't completely dismiss the company. Having said that, Reliance Worldwide has shown a modest net income growth of 8.0% over the past five years. Taking into consideration that the ROE is not particularly high, we reckon that there could also be other factors at play which could be influencing the company's 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.

As a next step, we compared Reliance Worldwide's net income growth with the industry and were disappointed to see that the company's growth is lower than the industry average growth of 12% in the same period.

The basis for attaching value to a company is, to a great extent, tied to its earnings growth. 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. Is RWC fairly valued? This infographic on the company's intrinsic value has everything you need to know.

Is Reliance Worldwide Efficiently Re-investing Its Profits?

Reliance Worldwide has a significant three-year median payout ratio of 53%, meaning that it is left with only 47% to reinvest into its business. This implies that the company has been able to achieve decent earnings growth despite returning most of its profits to shareholders.

Besides, Reliance Worldwide has been paying dividends over a period of eight years. This shows that the company is committed to sharing profits with its shareholders. Existing analyst estimates suggest that the company's future payout ratio is expected to drop to 26% over the next three years. Accordingly, the expected drop in the payout ratio explains the expected increase in the company's ROE to 13%, over the same period.

Summary

In total, we're a bit ambivalent about Reliance Worldwide's performance. While the company has posted a decent earnings growth, We do feel that the earnings growth number could have been even higher, had the company been reinvesting more of its earnings at a higher rate of return. That being so, the latest analyst forecasts show that the company will continue to see an expansion in its earnings. 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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