With its stock down 3.4% over the past week, it is easy to disregard Mapletree Industrial Trust (SGX:ME8U). 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. In this article, we decided to focus on Mapletree Industrial Trust's ROE.

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. Simply put, it is used to assess the profitability of a company in relation to its equity capital.

View our latest analysis for Mapletree Industrial Trust

How Is ROE Calculated?

The formula for ROE is:

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

So, based on the above formula, the ROE for Mapletree Industrial Trust is:

8.2% = S$451m ÷ S$5.5b (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2022).

The 'return' is the income the business earned over the last year. That means that for every SGD1 worth of shareholders' equity, the company generated SGD0.08 in profit.

What Is The Relationship Between ROE And Earnings Growth?

We have already established that ROE serves as an efficient profit-generating gauge for a company's future earnings. 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.

A Side By Side comparison of Mapletree Industrial Trust's Earnings Growth And 8.2% ROE

On the face of it, Mapletree Industrial Trust's ROE is not much to talk about. However, the fact that the its ROE is quite higher to the industry average of 6.0% doesn't go unnoticed by us. This probably goes some way in explaining Mapletree Industrial Trust's moderate 5.6% growth over the past five years amongst other factors. That being said, the company does have a slightly low ROE to begin with, just that it is higher than the industry average. So there might well be other reasons for the earnings to grow. For example, it is possible that the broader industry is going through a high growth phase, or that the company has a low payout ratio.

We then compared Mapletree Industrial Trust'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 1.6% in the same period.

The basis for attaching value to a company is, to a great extent, tied to its earnings growth. What investors need to determine next is if the expected earnings growth, or the lack of it, is already built into the share price. This then helps them determine if the stock is placed for a bright or bleak future. One good indicator of expected earnings growth is the P/E ratio which determines the price the market is willing to pay for a stock based on its earnings prospects. So, you may want to check if Mapletree Industrial Trust is trading on a high P/E or a low P/E, relative to its industry.

Is Mapletree Industrial Trust Making Efficient Use Of Its Profits?

Mapletree Industrial Trust seems to be paying out most of its income as dividends judging by its three-year median payout ratio of 89%, meaning the company retains only 11% of its income. However, this is typical for REITs as they are often required by law to distribute most of their earnings. Despite this, the company's earnings grew moderately as we saw above.

Additionally, Mapletree Industrial Trust has paid dividends over a period of at least ten years which means that the company is pretty serious about sharing its profits with shareholders. Based on the latest analysts' estimates, we found that the company's future payout ratio over the next three years is expected to hold steady at 96%. As a result, Mapletree Industrial Trust's ROE is not expected to change by much either, which we inferred from the analyst estimate of 7.9% for future ROE.

Conclusion

On the whole, we do feel that Mapletree Industrial Trust has some positive attributes. Specifically, its respectable ROE which likely led to the considerable growth in earnings. Yet, the company is retaining a small portion of its profits. Which means that the company has been able to grow its earnings in spite of it, so that's not too bad. Having said that, the company's earnings growth is expected to slow down, as forecasted in the current analyst estimates. 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.