Most readers would already be aware that Schindler Holding's (VTX:SCHN) stock increased significantly by 22% over the past three months. Given that stock prices are usually aligned with a company's financial performance in the long-term, we decided to study its financial indicators more closely to see if they had a hand to play in the recent price move. In this article, we decided to focus on Schindler Holding's ROE.

Return on Equity or ROE is a test of how effectively a company is growing its value and managing investors’ money. In other words, it is a profitability ratio which measures the rate of return on the capital provided by the company's shareholders.

Check out our latest analysis for Schindler Holding

How To Calculate Return On Equity?

ROE can be calculated by using the formula:

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

So, based on the above formula, the ROE for Schindler Holding is:

20% = CHF935m ÷ CHF4.7b (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2023).

The 'return' is the yearly profit. One way to conceptualize this is that for each CHF1 of shareholders' capital it has, the company made CHF0.20 in profit.

What Has ROE Got To Do With Earnings Growth?

Thus far, we have learned that ROE measures how efficiently a company is generating its profits. We now need to evaluate how much profit the company reinvests or "retains" for future growth which then gives us an idea about the growth potential of the company. 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.

Schindler Holding's Earnings Growth And 20% ROE

At first glance, Schindler Holding seems to have a decent ROE. Even when compared to the industry average of 17% the company's ROE looks quite decent. As you might expect, the 4.1% net income decline reported by Schindler Holding is a bit of a surprise. So, there might be some other aspects that could explain this. These include low earnings retention or poor allocation of capital.

That being said, we compared Schindler Holding's performance with the industry and were concerned when we found that while the company has shrunk its earnings, the industry has grown its earnings at a rate of 3.6% in the same 5-year period.

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. By doing so, they will have an idea if the stock is headed into clear blue waters or if swampy waters await. Has the market priced in the future outlook for SCHN? You can find out in our latest intrinsic value infographic research report.