Is American Water Works Company, Inc.'s (NYSE:AWK) ROE Of 9.3% Impressive?
Is American Water Works Company, Inc.'s (NYSE:AWK) ROE Of 9.3% Impressive?
Many investors are still learning about the various metrics that can be useful when analysing a stock. This article is for those who would like to learn about Return On Equity (ROE). To keep the lesson grounded in practicality, we'll use ROE to better understand American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE:AWK).
许多投资者仍在学习分析股票时可能有用的各种指标。本文适用于那些想了解股本回报率（ROE）的人。为了使课程以实用为基础，我们将使用投资回报率来更好地了解美国自来水公司（纽约证券交易所代码：AWK）。
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.
ROE或股本回报率是评估公司如何有效地从股东那里获得的投资回报的有用工具。换句话说，它揭示了该公司成功地将股东投资转化为利润。
View our latest analysis for American Water Works Company
查看我们对美国自来水公司的最新分析
How Do You Calculate Return On Equity?
你如何计算股本回报率？
Return on equity can be calculated by using the formula:
股本回报率可以使用以下公式计算：
Return on Equity = Net Profit (from continuing operations) ÷ Shareholders' Equity
股本回报率 = 净利润（来自持续经营）÷ 股东权益
So, based on the above formula, the ROE for American Water Works Company is:
因此，根据上述公式，美国自来水公司的投资回报率为：
9.3% = US$920m ÷ US$9.9b (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2023).
9.3% = 9.2亿美元 ¥99亿美元（基于截至2023年9月的过去十二个月）。
The 'return' is the profit over the last twelve months. That means that for every $1 worth of shareholders' equity, the company generated $0.09 in profit.
“回报” 是过去十二个月的利润。这意味着，公司每获得价值1美元的股东权益，就会产生0.09美元的利润。
Does American Water Works Company Have A Good ROE?
美国自来水公司的投资回报率是否良好？
Arguably the easiest way to assess company's ROE is to compare it with the average in its industry. However, this method is only useful as a rough check, because companies do differ quite a bit within the same industry classification. The image below shows that American Water Works Company has an ROE that is roughly in line with the Water Utilities industry average (8.1%).
可以说，评估公司投资回报率的最简单方法是将其与行业平均水平进行比较。但是，这种方法仅在粗略检查时有用，因为各公司在相同的行业分类中确实存在很大差异。下图显示，美国自来水公司的投资回报率与自来水公司行业的平均水平（8.1％）大致持平。
So while the ROE is not exceptional, at least its acceptable. Although the ROE is similar to the industry, we should still perform further checks to see if the company's ROE is being boosted by high debt levels. If so, this increases its exposure to financial risk. Our risks dashboardshould have the 4 risks we have identified for American Water Works Company.
因此，尽管投资回报率并不例外，但至少是可以接受的。尽管投资回报率与行业相似，但我们仍应进行进一步检查，看看高额债务水平是否提振了公司的投资回报率。如果是这样，这会增加其金融风险敞口。我们的风险仪表板应包含我们为美国自来水公司确定的4种风险。
How Does Debt Impact Return On Equity?
债务如何影响股本回报率？
Virtually all companies need money to invest in the business, to grow profits. That cash can come from retained earnings, issuing new shares (equity), or debt. In the case of the first and second options, the ROE will reflect this use of cash, for growth. In the latter case, the debt used for growth will improve returns, but won't affect the total equity. In this manner the use of debt will boost ROE, even though the core economics of the business stay the same.
几乎所有公司都需要资金来投资业务，增加利润。这些现金可以来自留存收益、发行新股（股权）或债务。对于第一和第二种选择，投资回报率将反映现金用于增长的这种用途。在后一种情况下，用于增长的债务将提高回报，但不会影响总资产。以这种方式，债务的使用将提高投资回报率，尽管该业务的核心经济学保持不变。
Combining American Water Works Company's Debt And Its 9.3% Return On Equity
合并美国自来水公司的债务及其9.3％的股本回报率
It's worth noting the high use of debt by American Water Works Company, leading to its debt to equity ratio of 1.23. With a fairly low ROE, and significant use of debt, it's hard to get excited about this business at the moment. Debt increases risk and reduces options for the company in the future, so you generally want to see some good returns from using it.
值得注意的是，美国自来水公司大量使用债务，导致其负债权益比率为1.23。由于投资回报率相当低，而且债务使用量很大，目前很难对这项业务感到兴奋。债务会增加风险，减少公司未来的选择，因此您通常希望从使用债务中获得丰厚的回报。
Summary
摘要
Return on equity is useful for comparing the quality of different businesses. In our books, the highest quality companies have high return on equity, despite low debt. If two companies have around the same level of debt to equity, and one has a higher ROE, I'd generally prefer the one with higher ROE.
股本回报率对于比较不同业务的质量很有用。在我们的账簿中，尽管债务很低，但质量最高的公司的股本回报率却很高。如果两家公司的债务与股权比率大致相同，而一家公司的投资回报率更高，那么我通常更喜欢投资回报率更高的那家公司。
But ROE is just one piece of a bigger puzzle, since high quality businesses often trade on high multiples of earnings. Profit growth rates, versus the expectations reflected in the price of the stock, are a particularly important to consider. So I think it may be worth checking this free report on analyst forecasts for the company.
但是投资回报率只是更大难题的一部分，因为高质量的企业通常以高倍的收益进行交易。利润增长率与股票价格所反映的预期相比，是一个特别重要的考虑因素。因此，我认为可能值得查看这份关于公司分析师预测的免费报告。
But note: American Water Works Company may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies with high ROE and low debt.
但请注意：美国自来水公司可能不是最值得购买的股票。因此，来看看这份投资回报率高、债务低的有趣公司的免费清单。
Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.
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.
对这篇文章有反馈吗？对内容感到担忧？直接联系我们。 或者，给编辑团队 (at) simplywallst.com 发送电子邮件。
Simply Wall St 的这篇文章本质上是笼统的。我们仅使用公正的方法提供基于历史数据和分析师预测的评论，我们的文章并非旨在提供财务建议。它不构成买入或卖出任何股票的建议，也没有考虑到您的目标或财务状况。我们的目标是为您提供由基本数据驱动的长期重点分析。请注意，我们的分析可能不会考虑最新的价格敏感型公司公告或定性材料。华尔街只是没有持有上述任何股票的头寸。