Masimo (NASDAQ:MASI) Stock's EvaluationMasimo (NASDAQ:MASI) has had a rough three months with its share price down 29%. We, however decided to study the company's financials to determine if they have got anything to do with the price decline. Long-term fundamentals are usually what drive market outcomes, so it's worth paying close attention.
Return on equity or ROE is a key measure used to assess how efficiently a company's management is utilizing the company's capital. Simply put, it is used to assess the profitability of a company in relation to its equity capital.
Why Is ROE Important For Earnings Growth?
We have already established that ROE serves as an efficient profit-generating gauge for a company's future earnings. Depending on how much of these profits the company reinvests or "retains", and how effectively it does so, we are then able to assess a company’s earnings growth potential. 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.
Masimo's Earnings Growth And 8.9% ROE
At first glance, Masimo's ROE doesn't look very promising. Yet, a closer study shows that the company's ROE is similar to the industry average of 9.1%. Having said that, Masimo's net income growth over the past five years is more or less flat. Remember, the company's ROE is not particularly great to begin with. Hence, this provides some context to the flat earnings growth seen by the company.
Next, on comparing with the industry net income growth, we found that the industry grew its earnings by 8.1% over the last few years.
Is Masimo Making Efficient Use Of Its Profits?
Masimo doesn't pay any dividend, meaning that potentially all of its profits are being reinvested in the business. However, this doesn't explain why the company hasn't seen any growth. It looks like there might be some other reasons to explain the lack in that respect. For example, the business could be in decline.
Summary
In total, am ambivalent about Masimo's performance. While the company does have a high rate of profit retention, its low rate of return is probably hampering its earnings growth. With that said, we studied the latest analyst forecasts and found that while the company has shrunk its earnings in the past, analysts expect its earnings to grow in the future
