Elevance Health's (NYSE:ELV) stock up by 3.9% over the past three months. Given its impressive performance, we decided to study the company's key financial indicators as a company's long-term fundamentals usually dictate market outcomes. Particularly, we will be paying attention to Elevance Health's 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 short, ROE shows the profit each dollar generates with respect to its shareholder investments.

View our latest analysis for Elevance Health

How To Calculate Return On Equity?

Return on equity 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 Elevance Health is:

17% = US$6.5b ÷ US$38b (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2023).

The 'return' refers to a company's earnings over the last year. One way to conceptualize this is that for each $1 of shareholders' capital it has, the company made $0.17 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. 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. 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.

Elevance Health's Earnings Growth And 17% ROE

At first glance, Elevance Health seems to have a decent ROE. On comparing with the average industry ROE of 11% the company's ROE looks pretty remarkable. Probably as a result of this, Elevance Health was able to see a decent growth of 9.6% over the last five years.

Next, on comparing Elevance Health's net income growth with the industry, we found that the company's reported growth is similar to the industry average growth rate of 11% over the last few years.

Earnings growth is a huge factor in stock valuation. The investor should try to establish if the expected growth or decline in earnings, whichever the case may be, is priced in. By doing so, they will have an idea if the stock is headed into clear blue waters or if swampy waters await. Is Elevance Health fairly valued compared to other companies? These 3 valuation measures might help you decide.

Is Elevance Health Making Efficient Use Of Its Profits?

In Elevance Health's case, its respectable earnings growth can probably be explained by its low three-year median payout ratio of 19% (or a retention ratio of 81%), which suggests that the company is investing most of its profits to grow its business.

Besides, Elevance Health has been paying dividends for at least ten years or more. This shows that the company is committed to sharing profits with its shareholders. Our latest analyst data shows that the future payout ratio of the company over the next three years is expected to be approximately 16%. Accordingly, forecasts suggest that Elevance Health's future ROE will be 15% which is again, similar to the current ROE.

Summary

On the whole, we feel that Elevance Health's performance has been quite good. In particular, it's great to see that the company is investing heavily into its business and along with a high rate of return, that has resulted in a sizeable growth in its earnings. With that said, the latest industry analyst forecasts reveal that the company's earnings are expected to accelerate. 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.