Fairfax Financial Holdings (TSE:FFH) has had a great run on the share market with its stock up by a significant 9.6% 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. Specifically, we decided to study Fairfax Financial Holdings' ROE in this article.

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 Fairfax Financial 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 Fairfax Financial Holdings is:

17% = US$4.7b ÷ US$28b (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2024).

The 'return' is the income the business earned over the last year. So, this means that for every CA$1 of its shareholder's investments, the company generates a profit of CA$0.17.

What Is The Relationship Between ROE And Earnings Growth?

Thus far, we have learned that ROE measures how efficiently a company is generating its profits. 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.

Fairfax Financial Holdings' Earnings Growth And 17% ROE

To begin with, Fairfax Financial Holdings seems to have a respectable ROE. Especially when compared to the industry average of 13% the company's ROE looks pretty impressive. Probably as a result of this, Fairfax Financial Holdings was able to see an impressive net income growth of 35% over the last 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.

We then compared Fairfax Financial Holdings' 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 14% in the same 5-year period.

Earnings growth is an important metric to consider when valuing a stock. The investor should try to establish if the expected growth or decline in earnings, whichever the case may be, is priced in. Doing so will help them establish if the stock's future looks promising or ominous. If you're wondering about Fairfax Financial Holdings''s valuation, check out this gauge of its price-to-earnings ratio, as compared to its industry.