Golden Entertainment (NASDAQ:GDEN) has had a rough three months with its share price down 12%. 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 Golden Entertainment's ROE in this article.

Return on Equity or ROE is a test of how effectively a company is growing its value and managing investors’ money. Simply put, it is used to assess the profitability of a company in relation to its equity capital.

Trump has pledged to "unleash" American oil and gas and these 15 US stocks have developments that are poised to benefit.

How Do You 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 Golden Entertainment is:

11% = US$51m ÷ US$474m (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 $1 worth of equity, the company was able to earn $0.11 in profit.

See our latest analysis for Golden Entertainment

Why Is ROE Important For Earnings Growth?

We have already established that ROE serves as an efficient profit-generating gauge for a company's future earnings. 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 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.

Golden Entertainment's Earnings Growth And 11% ROE

When you first look at it, Golden Entertainment's ROE doesn't look that attractive. Next, when compared to the average industry ROE of 15%, the company's ROE leaves us feeling even less enthusiastic. However, we we're pleasantly surprised to see that Golden Entertainment grew its net income at a significant rate of 46% in the last 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 Golden Entertainment'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 33% in the same 5-year period.

Earnings growth is a huge factor in stock valuation. The investor should try to establish if the expected growth or decline in earnings, whichever the case may be, is priced in. This then helps them determine if the stock is placed for a bright or bleak future. Is GDEN fairly valued? This infographic on the company's intrinsic value has everything you need to know.

Is Golden Entertainment Using Its Retained Earnings Effectively?

The three-year median payout ratio for Golden Entertainment is 30%, which is moderately low. The company is retaining the remaining 70%. So it seems that Golden Entertainment is reinvesting efficiently in a way that it sees impressive growth in its earnings (discussed above) and pays a dividend that's well covered.

Along with seeing a growth in earnings, Golden Entertainment only recently started paying dividends. Its quite possible that the company was looking to impress its shareholders. Looking at the current analyst consensus data, we can see that the company's future payout ratio is expected to rise to 72% over the next three years. However, Golden Entertainment's future ROE is expected to rise to 44% 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

Overall, we feel that Golden Entertainment certainly does have some positive factors to consider. Despite its low rate of return, the fact that the company reinvests a very high portion of its profits into its business, no doubt contributed to its high earnings growth. With that said, on studying the latest analyst forecasts, we found that while the company has seen growth in its past earnings, analysts expect its future earnings to shrink. 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.

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.