Declining Stock and Solid Fundamentals: Is The Market Wrong About Games Workshop Group PLC (LON:GAW)?

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Simply Wall St

Mon, May 9, 2022, 1:38 AM 4 min read

With its stock down 12% over the past three months, it is easy to disregard Games Workshop Group (LON:GAW). But if you pay close attention, you might gather that its strong financials could mean that the stock could potentially see an increase in value in the long-term, given how markets usually reward companies with good financial health. Particularly, we will be paying attention to Games Workshop Group's ROE today.

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 other words, it is a profitability ratio which measures the rate of return on the capital provided by the company's shareholders.

View our latest analysis for Games Workshop Group

How Do You 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 Games Workshop Group is:

51% = UK£119m ÷ UK£234m (Based on the trailing twelve months to November 2021).

The 'return' refers to a company's earnings over the last year. One way to conceptualize this is that for each £1 of shareholders' capital it has, the company made £0.51 in profit.

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. 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.

Games Workshop Group's Earnings Growth And 51% ROE

To begin with, Games Workshop Group has a pretty high ROE which is interesting. Additionally, the company's ROE is higher compared to the industry average of 17% which is quite remarkable. As a result, Games Workshop Group's exceptional 27% net income growth seen over the past five years, doesn't come as a surprise.

As a next step, we compared Games Workshop Group'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 27% in the same period.

past-earnings-growth — LSE:GAW Past Earnings Growth May 9th 2022

Earnings growth is an important metric to consider when valuing a stock. It’s important for an investor to know whether the market has priced in the company's expected earnings growth (or decline). 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 GAW? You can find out in our latest intrinsic value infographic research report.

Is Games Workshop Group Efficiently Re-investing Its Profits?

The high three-year median payout ratio of 56% (implying that it keeps only 44% of profits) for Games Workshop Group suggests that the company's growth wasn't really hampered despite it returning most of the earnings to its shareholders.

Moreover, Games Workshop Group is determined to keep sharing its profits with shareholders which we infer from its long history of paying a dividend for at least ten years. Based on the latest analysts' estimates, we found that the company's future payout ratio over the next three years is expected to hold steady at 60%. Therefore, the company's future ROE is also not expected to change by much with analysts predicting an ROE of 48%.

Conclusion

Overall, we are quite pleased with Games Workshop Group's performance. We are particularly impressed by the considerable earnings growth posted by the company, which was likely backed by its high ROE. While the company is paying out most of its earnings as dividends, it has been able to grow its earnings in spite of it, so that's probably a good sign. That being so, a study of the latest analyst forecasts show that the company is expected to see a slowdown in its future earnings growth. 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.