Stealth Group Holdings (ASX:SGI) has had a great run on the share market with its stock up by a significant 74% over the last month. Given that the market rewards strong financials in the long-term, we wonder if that is the case in this instance. Particularly, we will be paying attention to Stealth Group Holdings' 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. Put another way, it reveals the company's success at turning shareholder investments into profits.

View our latest analysis for Stealth Group Holdings

How To Calculate Return On Equity?

The formula for ROE is:

Return on Equity = Net Profit (from continuing operations) ÷ Shareholders' Equity

So, based on the above formula, the ROE for Stealth Group Holdings is:

11% = AU$2.4m ÷ AU$21m (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2024).

The 'return' is the income the business earned 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$0.11 in profit.

Why Is ROE Important For Earnings Growth?

So far, we've learned that ROE is a measure of a company's profitability. 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. 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.

Stealth Group Holdings' Earnings Growth And 11% ROE

To begin with, Stealth Group Holdings seems to have a respectable ROE. And on comparing with the industry, we found that the the average industry ROE is similar at 10%. This certainly adds some context to Stealth Group Holdings' exceptional 50% net income growth seen over the past five years. We believe that there might also be other aspects that are positively influencing the company's earnings growth. Such as - high earnings retention or an efficient management in place.

As a next step, we compared Stealth Group Holdings' net income growth with the industry, and pleasingly, we found that the growth seen by the company is higher than the average industry growth of 30%.

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. This then helps them determine if the stock is placed for a bright or bleak future. If you're wondering about Stealth Group Holdings''s valuation, check out this gauge of its price-to-earnings ratio, as compared to its industry.

Is Stealth Group Holdings Efficiently Re-investing Its Profits?

The three-year median payout ratio for Stealth Group Holdings is 50%, which is moderately low. The company is retaining the remaining 50%. By the looks of it, the dividend is well covered and Stealth Group Holdings is reinvesting its profits efficiently as evidenced by its exceptional growth which we discussed above.

Existing analyst estimates suggest that the company's future payout ratio is expected to drop to 32% over the next three years. As a result, the expected drop in Stealth Group Holdings' payout ratio explains the anticipated rise in the company's future ROE to 30%, over the same period.

Conclusion

In total, we are pretty happy with Stealth Group Holdings' performance. Particularly, we like that the company is reinvesting heavily into its business, and at a high rate of return. Unsurprisingly, this has led to an impressive earnings growth. 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 latest analysts predictions for the company, check out this visualization of analyst forecasts for the company.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.

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.