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It is hard to get excited after looking at Five Below's (NASDAQ:FIVE) recent performance, when its stock has declined 26% over the past three months. However, stock prices are usually driven by a company’s financial performance over the long term, which in this case looks quite promising. Specifically, we decided to study Five Below'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. Simply put, it is used to assess the profitability of a company in relation to its equity capital.
View our latest analysis for Five Below
How Do You 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 Five Below is:
19% = US$301m ÷ US$1.6b (Based on the trailing twelve months to February 2024).
The 'return' is the amount earned after tax over the last twelve months. So, this means that for every $1 of its shareholder's investments, the company generates a profit of $0.19.
What Is The Relationship Between ROE And 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 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 Five Below's Earnings Growth And 19% ROE
To start with, Five Below's ROE looks acceptable. And on comparing with the industry, we found that the the average industry ROE is similar at 19%. This certainly adds some context to Five Below's moderate 17% net income growth seen over the past five years.
Next, on comparing with the industry net income growth, we found that Five Below's reported growth was lower than the industry growth of 25% over the last few years, which is not something we like to see.
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. Doing so will help them establish if the stock's future looks promising or ominous. Is FIVE fairly valued? This infographic on the company's intrinsic value has everything you need to know.