Yahoo Finance Will Weakness in Valero Energy Corporation's (NYSE:VLO) Stock Prove Temporary Given Strong Fundamentals?
Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO) has had a rough three months with its share price down 18%. However, a closer look at its sound financials might cause you to think again. Given that fundamentals usually drive long-term market outcomes, the company is worth looking at. In this article, we decided to focus on Valero Energy's ROE.
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. Put another way, it reveals the company's success at turning shareholder investments into profits.
See our latest analysis for Valero Energy
How To 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 Valero Energy is:
52% = US$14b ÷ US$27b (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2023).
The 'return' is the yearly profit. That means that for every $1 worth of shareholders' equity, the company generated $0.52 in profit.
What Is The Relationship Between ROE And Earnings Growth?
So far, we've learned that ROE is a measure of a company's profitability. Based on how much of its profits the company chooses to reinvest or "retain", we are then able to evaluate a company's future ability to generate profits. 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.
Valero Energy's Earnings Growth And 52% ROE
First thing first, we like that Valero Energy has an impressive ROE. Secondly, even when compared to the industry average of 30% the company's ROE is quite impressive. So, the substantial 27% net income growth seen by Valero Energy over the past five years isn't overly surprising.
Next, on comparing with the industry net income growth, we found that Valero Energy's growth is quite high when compared to the industry average growth of 18% in the same period, which is great to see.
Earnings growth is a huge factor in stock valuation. It’s important for an investor to know whether the market has priced in the company's expected earnings growth (or decline). Doing so will help them establish if the stock's future looks promising or ominous. What is VLO worth today? The intrinsic value infographic in our free research report helps visualize whether VLO is currently mispriced by the market.
Is Valero Energy Making Efficient Use Of Its Profits?
Valero Energy's three-year median payout ratio to shareholders is 13%, which is quite low. This implies that the company is retaining 87% of its profits. This suggests that the management is reinvesting most of the profits to grow the business as evidenced by the growth seen by the company.
Besides, Valero Energy has been paying dividends for at least ten years or more. This shows that the company is committed to sharing profits with its shareholders. Upon studying the latest analysts' consensus data, we found that the company's future payout ratio is expected to rise to 40% over the next three years. Therefore, the expected rise in the payout ratio explains why the company's ROE is expected to decline to 16% over the same period.
Conclusion
Overall, we are quite pleased with Valero Energy's performance. Specifically, we like that the company is reinvesting a huge chunk of its profits at a high rate of return. This of course has caused the company to see substantial growth in its earnings. Having said that, on studying current analyst estimates, we were concerned to see that while the company has grown its earnings in the past, analysts expect its earnings to shrink in the future. Are these analysts expectations based on the broad expectations for the industry, or on the company's fundamentals? Click here to be taken to our analyst's forecasts page for the company.
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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.
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