Most readers would already be aware that Constellation Energy's (NASDAQ:CEG) stock increased significantly by 13% over the past three months. Given the company's impressive performance, we decided to study its financial indicators more closely as a company's financial health over the long-term usually dictates market outcomes. Specifically, we decided to study Constellation Energy's ROE in this article.

Return on equity or ROE is a key measure used to assess how efficiently a company's management is utilizing the company's capital. In other words, it is a profitability ratio which measures the rate of return on the capital provided by the company's shareholders.

How Do You Calculate Return On Equity?

ROE 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 Constellation Energy is:

20% = US$2.4b ÷ US$12b (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2024).

The 'return' is the profit over the last twelve months. Another way to think of that is that for every $1 worth of equity, the company was able to earn $0.20 in profit.

What Has ROE Got To Do With 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.

Constellation Energy's Earnings Growth And 20% ROE

To begin with, Constellation Energy seems to have a respectable ROE. Especially when compared to the industry average of 8.9% the company's ROE looks pretty impressive. This certainly adds some context to Constellation Energy's decent 14% net income growth seen over the past five years.

As a next step, we compared Constellation Energy's net income growth with the industry, and pleasingly, we found that the growth seen by the company is higher than the average industry growth of 5.6%.

Earnings growth is an important metric to consider when valuing a stock. What investors need to determine next is if the expected earnings growth, or the lack of it, is already built into the share price. Doing so will help them establish if the stock's future looks promising or ominous. 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 Constellation Energy is trading on a high P/E or a low P/E, relative to its industry.

Is Constellation Energy Making Efficient Use Of Its Profits?

In Constellation Energy's case, its respectable earnings growth can probably be explained by its low three-year median payout ratio of 14% (or a retention ratio of 86%), which suggests that the company is investing most of its profits to grow its business.

While Constellation Energy has seen growth in its earnings, it only recently started to pay a dividend. It is most likely that the company decided to impress new and existing shareholders with a dividend. Looking at the current analyst consensus data, we can see that the company's future payout ratio is expected to rise to 20% over the next three years. However, the company's ROE is not expected to change by much despite the higher expected payout ratio.

Summary

In total, we are pretty happy with Constellation Energy's performance. Specifically, we like that the company is reinvesting a huge chunk of its profits at a high rate of return. This of course has caused the company to see substantial growth in its earnings. That being so, a study of the latest analyst forecasts show that the company is expected to see a slowdown in its future earnings growth. 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.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team@simplywallst.com