National Instruments' (NASDAQ:NATI) stock is up by a considerable 24% over the past three months. We, however wanted to have a closer look at its key financial indicators as the markets usually pay for long-term fundamentals, and in this case, they don't look very promising. Specifically, we decided to study National Instruments' ROE in this article.

Return on Equity or ROE is a test of how effectively a company is growing its value and managing investors' money. In simpler terms, it measures the profitability of a company in relation to shareholder's equity.

View our latest analysis for National Instruments

How Do You Calculate Return On Equity?

The formula for ROE is:

Return on Equity = Net Profit (from continuing operations) ÷ Shareholders' Equity

So, based on the above formula, the ROE for National Instruments is:

9.0% = US$105m ÷ US$1.2b (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2022).

The 'return' refers to a company's earnings over the last year. That means that for every $1 worth of shareholders' equity, the company generated $0.09 in profit.

Why Is ROE Important For Earnings Growth?

Thus far, we have learned that ROE measures how efficiently a company is generating its profits. 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. 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.

National Instruments' Earnings Growth And 9.0% ROE

When you first look at it, National Instruments' ROE doesn't look that attractive. A quick further study shows that the company's ROE doesn't compare favorably to the industry average of 14% either. As a result, National Instruments' flat net income growth over the past five years doesn't come as a surprise given its lower ROE.

We then compared National Instruments' net income growth with the industry and found that the company's growth figure is lower than the average industry growth rate of 17% in the same period, which is a bit concerning.

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). By doing so, they will have an idea if the stock is headed into clear blue waters or if swampy waters await. If you're wondering about National Instruments''s valuation, check out this gauge of its price-to-earnings ratio, as compared to its industry.

Is National Instruments Efficiently Re-investing Its Profits?

With a high three-year median payout ratio of 95% (implying that the company keeps only 5.1% of its income) of its business to reinvest into its business), most of National Instruments' profits are being paid to shareholders, which explains the absence of growth in earnings.

In addition, National Instruments has been paying dividends over a period of at least ten years suggesting that keeping up dividend payments is way more important to the management even if it comes at the cost of business growth. Upon studying the latest analysts' consensus data, we found that the company's future payout ratio is expected to drop to 40% over the next three years. Accordingly, the expected drop in the payout ratio explains the expected increase in the company's ROE to 28%, over the same period.

Conclusion

Overall, we would be extremely cautious before making any decision on National Instruments. The low ROE, combined with the fact that the company is paying out almost if not all, of its profits as dividends, has resulted in the lack or absence of growth in its earnings. Having said that, looking at the current analyst estimates, we found that the company's earnings are expected to gain momentum. 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.