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Air New Zealand (NZSE:AIR) has had a rough month with its share price down 5.3%. 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 Air New Zealand's ROE in this article.
Return on equity or ROE is a key measure used to assess how efficiently a company's management is utilizing the company's capital. In simpler terms, it measures the profitability of a company in relation to shareholder's equity.
View our latest analysis for Air New Zealand
How Is ROE Calculated?
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 Air New Zealand is:
7.3% = NZ$146m ÷ NZ$2.0b (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2024).
The 'return' is the profit over the last twelve months. Another way to think of that is that for every NZ$1 worth of equity, the company was able to earn NZ$0.07 in profit.
What Is The Relationship Between ROE And Earnings Growth?
So far, we've learned that ROE is a measure of a company's profitability. 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 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.
A Side By Side comparison of Air New Zealand's Earnings Growth And 7.3% ROE
When you first look at it, Air New Zealand's ROE doesn't look that attractive. Next, when compared to the average industry ROE of 18%, the company's ROE leaves us feeling even less enthusiastic. However, the moderate 19% net income growth seen by Air New Zealand over the past five years is definitely a positive. We reckon that there could be other factors at play here. 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.
As a next step, we compared Air New Zealand's net income growth with the industry and found that the company has a similar growth figure when compared with the industry average growth rate of 22% in the same period.
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. Doing so will help them establish if the stock's future looks promising or ominous. One good indicator of expected earnings growth is the P/E ratio which determines the price the market is willing to pay for a stock based on its earnings prospects. So, you may want to check if Air New Zealand is trading on a high P/E or a low P/E, relative to its industry.