Jardine Cycle & Carriage's (SGX:C07) stock up by 2.9% over the past three months. 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 Jardine Cycle & Carriage'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 short, ROE shows the profit each dollar generates with respect to its shareholder investments.

How Do You 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 Jardine Cycle & Carriage is:

15% = US$2.6b ÷ US$17b (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2024).

The 'return' is the yearly profit. That means that for every SGD1 worth of shareholders' equity, the company generated SGD0.15 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. 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 Jardine Cycle & Carriage's Earnings Growth And 15% ROE

To start with, Jardine Cycle & Carriage's ROE looks acceptable. Further, the company's ROE compares quite favorably to the industry average of 7.9%. Probably as a result of this, Jardine Cycle & Carriage was able to see a decent growth of 11% over the last five years.

Next, on comparing with the industry net income growth, we found that Jardine Cycle & Carriage's reported growth was lower than the industry growth of 16% over the last few years, which is not something we like to see.

The basis for attaching value to a company is, to a great extent, tied to its earnings growth. 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. Has the market priced in the future outlook for C07? You can find out in our latest intrinsic value infographic research report.

Is Jardine Cycle & Carriage Efficiently Re-investing Its Profits?

Jardine Cycle & Carriage has a healthy combination of a moderate three-year median payout ratio of 44% (or a retention ratio of 56%) and a respectable amount of growth in earnings as we saw above, meaning that the company has been making efficient use of its profits.

Besides, Jardine Cycle & Carriage has been paying dividends for at least ten years or more. This shows that the company is committed to sharing profits with its 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 40%. As a result, Jardine Cycle & Carriage's ROE is not expected to change by much either, which we inferred from the analyst estimate of 12% for future ROE.

Conclusion

In total, we are pretty happy with Jardine Cycle & Carriage's 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 respectable growth in its earnings. Having said that, the company's earnings growth is expected to slow down, as forecasted in the current analyst estimates. 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.