Are Strong Financial Prospects The Force That Is Driving The Momentum In Oshkosh Corporation's NYSE:OSK) Stock?

Oshkosh's (NYSE:OSK) stock is up by a considerable 9.3% over the past month. 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. In this article, we decided to focus on Oshkosh's ROE.

Return on Equity or ROE is a test of how effectively a company is growing its value and managing investors’ money. In simpler terms, it measures the profitability of a company in relation to shareholder's equity.

View our latest analysis for Oshkosh

How Do You Calculate Return On Equity?

The formula for return on equity is:

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

So, based on the above formula, the ROE for Oshkosh is:

14% = US$375m ÷ US$2.8b (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2020).

The 'return' is the amount earned after tax 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 $0.14 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. 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.

A Side By Side comparison of Oshkosh's Earnings Growth And 14% ROE

To begin with, Oshkosh seems to have a respectable ROE. And on comparing with the industry, we found that the the average industry ROE is similar at 12%. This probably goes some way in explaining Oshkosh's significant 22% net income growth over the past five years amongst other factors. We reckon that there could also be other factors at play here. For example, it is possible that the company's management has made some good strategic decisions, or that the company has a low payout ratio.

We then compared Oshkosh'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 10.0% 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. What is OSK worth today? The intrinsic value infographic in our free research report helps visualize whether OSK is currently mispriced by the market.

Is Oshkosh Using Its Retained Earnings Effectively?

Oshkosh has a really low three-year median payout ratio of 16%, meaning that it has the remaining 84% left over to reinvest into its business. So it looks like Oshkosh is reinvesting profits heavily to grow its business, which shows in its earnings growth.

Additionally, Oshkosh has paid dividends over a period of seven years which means that the company is pretty serious about sharing its profits with shareholders. Upon studying the latest analysts' consensus data, we found that the company's future payout ratio is expected to rise to 21% over the next three years. Despite the higher expected payout ratio, the company's ROE is not expected to change by much.

Summary

In total, we are pretty happy with Oshkosh's performance. Particularly, we like that the company is reinvesting heavily into its business, and at a high rate of return. Unsurprisingly, this has led to an impressive earnings growth. 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.

This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. 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.