Most readers would already know that Santos' (ASX:STO) stock increased by 4.2% over the past week. Given that stock prices are usually aligned with a company's financial performance in the long-term, we decided to investigate if the company's decent financials had a hand to play in the recent price move. Particularly, we will be paying attention to Santos' 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 other words, it is a profitability ratio which measures the rate of return on the capital provided by the company's shareholders.

How To 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 Santos is:

8.1% = US$1.3b ÷ US$16b (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2024).

The 'return' refers to a company's earnings over the last year. So, this means that for every A$1 of its shareholder's investments, the company generates a profit of A$0.08.

View our latest analysis for Santos

What Has ROE Got To Do With Earnings Growth?

We have already established that ROE serves as an efficient profit-generating gauge for a company's future earnings. We now need to evaluate how much profit the company reinvests or "retains" for future growth which then gives us an idea about the growth potential of the company. 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 Santos' Earnings Growth And 8.1% ROE

When you first look at it, Santos' ROE doesn't look that attractive. However, its ROE is similar to the industry average of 8.1%, so we won't completely dismiss the company. Moreover, we are quite pleased to see that Santos' net income grew significantly at a rate of 34% over the last five years. Taking into consideration that the ROE is not particularly high, we reckon that there could also be other factors at play which could be influencing the company's growth. For instance, the company has a low payout ratio or is being managed efficiently.

Next, on comparing Santos' net income growth with the industry, we found that the company's reported growth is similar to the industry average growth rate of 32% over the last few years.

The basis for attaching value to a company is, to a great extent, tied to its earnings growth. It’s important for an investor to know whether the market has priced in the company's expected earnings growth (or decline). This then helps them determine if the stock is placed for a bright or bleak future. If you're wondering about Santos''s valuation, check out this gauge of its price-to-earnings ratio, as compared to its industry.

Is Santos Using Its Retained Earnings Effectively?

Santos' three-year median payout ratio is a pretty moderate 45%, meaning the company retains 55% of its income. So it seems that Santos is reinvesting efficiently in a way that it sees impressive growth in its earnings (discussed above) and pays a dividend that's well covered.

Moreover, Santos 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. Upon studying the latest analysts' consensus data, we found that the company's future payout ratio is expected to rise to 63% over the next three years. However, the company's ROE is not expected to change by much despite the higher expected payout ratio.

Summary

Overall, we feel that Santos certainly does have some positive factors to consider. With a high rate of reinvestment, albeit at a low ROE, the company has managed to see a considerable growth in its earnings. Having said that, the company's earnings growth is expected to slow down, as forecasted in the current analyst estimates. 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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