Are Centaur Media Plc's (LON:CAU) Fundamentals Good Enough to Warrant Buying Given The Stock's Recent Weakness?

editorial-team@simplywallst.com (Simply Wall St)

Sat, Nov 11, 2023, 12:00 AM 4 min read

It is hard to get excited after looking at Centaur Media's (LON:CAU) recent performance, when its stock has declined 7.1% over the past three months. However, the company's fundamentals look pretty decent, and long-term financials are usually aligned with future market price movements. Specifically, we decided to study Centaur Media'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. Put another way, it reveals the company's success at turning shareholder investments into profits.

Check out our latest analysis for Centaur Media

How To Calculate Return On Equity?

Return on equity 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 Centaur Media is:

9.3% = UK£4.0m ÷ UK£43m (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2023).

The 'return' is the income the business earned over the last year. So, this means that for every £1 of its shareholder's investments, the company generates a profit of £0.09.

What Is The Relationship Between ROE And 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. Generally speaking, other things being equal, firms with a high return on equity and profit retention, have a higher growth rate than firms that don’t share these attributes.

Centaur Media's Earnings Growth And 9.3% ROE

At first glance, Centaur Media's ROE doesn't look very promising. Yet, a closer study shows that the company's ROE is similar to the industry average of 10%. Looking at Centaur Media's exceptional 73% five-year net income growth in particular, we are definitely impressed. Given the slightly low ROE, it is likely that there could be some other aspects that are driving this growth. Such as - high earnings retention or an efficient management in place.

Next, on comparing with the industry net income growth, we found that Centaur Media's growth is quite high when compared to the industry average growth of 21% in the same period, which is great to see.

past-earnings-growth — LSE:CAU Past Earnings Growth November 11th 2023

Earnings growth is a huge factor in stock valuation. 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 CAU? You can find out in our latest intrinsic value infographic research report.

Is Centaur Media Using Its Retained Earnings Effectively?

Centaur Media has a significant three-year median payout ratio of 57%, meaning the company only retains 43% of its income. This implies that the company has been able to achieve high earnings growth despite returning most of its profits to shareholders.

Additionally, Centaur Media has paid dividends over a period of at least ten years which means that the company is pretty serious about sharing its profits with shareholders. Upon studying the latest analysts' consensus data, we found that the company's future payout ratio is expected to drop to 40% over the next three years. Accordingly, the expected drop in the payout ratio explains the expected increase in the company's ROE to 13%, over the same period.

Conclusion

In total, it does look like Centaur Media has some positive aspects to its business. That is, quite an impressive growth in earnings. However, the low profit retention means that the company's earnings growth could have been higher, had it been reinvesting a higher portion of its profits. With that said, the latest industry analyst forecasts reveal that the company's earnings growth is expected to slow down. 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.