Yahoo Finance Schneider National, Inc.'s (NYSE:SNDR) Fundamentals Look Pretty Strong: Could The Market Be Wrong About The Stock?
Schneider National (NYSE:SNDR) has had a rough month with its share price down 7.5%. However, the company's fundamentals look pretty decent, and long-term financials are usually aligned with future market price movements. Particularly, we will be paying attention to Schneider National's ROE today.
ROE or return on equity is a useful tool to assess how effectively a company can generate returns on the investment it received from its shareholders. In simpler terms, it measures the profitability of a company in relation to shareholder's equity.
Check out our latest analysis for Schneider National
How Is ROE Calculated?
The formula for ROE is:
Return on Equity = Net Profit (from continuing operations) ÷ Shareholders' Equity
So, based on the above formula, the ROE for Schneider National is:
18% = US$443m ÷ US$2.5b (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2022).
The 'return' is the amount earned after tax over the last twelve months. Another way to think of that is that for every $1 worth of equity, the company was able to earn $0.18 in profit.
What Has ROE Got To Do With 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 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.
Schneider National's Earnings Growth And 18% ROE
To begin with, Schneider National seems to have a respectable ROE. Yet, the fact that the company's ROE is lower than the industry average of 23% does temper our expectations. On further research, we found that Schneider National's net income growth of 3.9% over the past five years is quite low. Not to forget, the company does have a decent ROE to begin with, just that it is lower than the industry average. So there might be other reasons for the earnings growth to be low. For example, it could be that the company has a high payout ratio or the business has allocated capital poorly, for instance.
Next, on comparing with the industry net income growth, we found that Schneider National's reported growth was lower than the industry growth of 6.3% in the same period, which is not something we like to see.
Earnings growth is an important metric to consider when valuing a stock. 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. If you're wondering about Schneider National's's valuation, check out this gauge of its price-to-earnings ratio, as compared to its industry.
Is Schneider National Making Efficient Use Of Its Profits?
Schneider National's low three-year median payout ratio of 21% (or a retention ratio of 79%) should mean that the company is retaining most of its earnings to fuel its growth. However, the low earnings growth number doesn't reflect this as high growth usually follows high profit retention. So there could be some other explanation in that regard. For instance, the company's business may be deteriorating.
Additionally, Schneider National has paid dividends over a period of five years, which means that the company's management is determined to pay dividends even if it means little to no earnings growth. Upon studying the latest analysts' consensus data, we found that the company's future payout ratio is expected to drop to 15% over the next three years. Regardless, the future ROE for Schneider National is predicted to decline to 13% despite the anticipated decrease in the payout ratio. We reckon that there could probably be other factors that could be driving the forseen decline in the company's ROE.
Conclusion
In total, it does look like Schneider National has some positive aspects to its business. However, while the company does have a decent ROE and a high profit retention, its earnings growth number is quite disappointing. This suggests that there might be some external threat to the business, that's hampering growth. With that said, on studying the latest analyst forecasts, we found that while the company has seen growth in its past earnings, analysts expect its future earnings to shrink. 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.
