Yahoo Finance Should Weakness in Becton, Dickinson and Company's (NYSE:BDX) Stock Be Seen As A Sign That Market Will Correct The Share Price Given Decent Financials?
It is hard to get excited after looking at Becton Dickinson's (NYSE:BDX) recent performance, when its stock has declined 5.3% over the past month. 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 Becton Dickinson's ROE in this article.
Return on equity or ROE is an important factor to be considered by a shareholder because it tells them how effectively their capital is being reinvested. Put another way, it reveals the company's success at turning shareholder investments into profits.
Check out our latest analysis for Becton Dickinson
How Do You Calculate Return On Equity?
The formula for return on equity is:
Return on Equity = Net Profit (from continuing operations) ÷ Shareholders' Equity
So, based on the above formula, the ROE for Becton Dickinson is:
6.4% = US$1.7b ÷ US$26b (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2023).
The 'return' is the yearly profit. So, this means that for every $1 of its shareholder's investments, the company generates a profit of $0.06.
What Has ROE Got To Do With 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.
Becton Dickinson's Earnings Growth And 6.4% ROE
When you first look at it, Becton Dickinson's ROE doesn't look that attractive. Next, when compared to the average industry ROE of 9.2%, the company's ROE leaves us feeling even less enthusiastic. Although, we can see that Becton Dickinson saw a modest net income growth of 20% over the past five years. So, the growth in the company's earnings could probably have been caused by other variables. Such as - high earnings retention or an efficient management in place.
We then compared Becton Dickinson's net income growth with the industry and we're pleased to see that the company's growth figure is higher when compared with the industry which has a growth rate of 9.3% in the same 5-year period.
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. What is BDX worth today? The intrinsic value infographic in our free research report helps visualize whether BDX is currently mispriced by the market.
Is Becton Dickinson Efficiently Re-investing Its Profits?
While Becton Dickinson has a three-year median payout ratio of 67% (which means it retains 33% of profits), the company has still seen a fair bit of earnings growth in the past, meaning that its high payout ratio hasn't hampered its ability to grow.
Moreover, Becton Dickinson 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. Our latest analyst data shows that the future payout ratio of the company is expected to drop to 27% over the next three years. The fact that the company's ROE is expected to rise to 16% over the same period is explained by the drop in the payout ratio.
Summary
On the whole, we do feel that Becton Dickinson has some positive attributes. 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. We also studied the latest analyst forecasts and found that the company's earnings growth is expected be similar to its current growth rate. 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.
