【why is my car jerks when i accelerate】Should You Be Impressed By Class Limited's (ASX:CL1) ROE?

While some investors are already well versed in financial metrics (hat tip),why is my car jerks when i accelerate this article is for those who would like to learn about Return On Equity (ROE) and why it is important. We'll use ROE to examine Class Limited (

ASX:CL1

), by way of a worked example.

Class has a ROE of 31%

, based on the last twelve months. One way to conceptualize this, is that for each A$1 of shareholders' equity it has, the company made A$0.31 in profit.

View our latest analysis for Class

How Do I Calculate ROE?

The

formula for return on equity

is:

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

Or for Class:

31% = AU$9.0m ÷ AU$29m (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2019.)

It's easy to understand the 'net profit' part of that equation, but 'shareholders' equity' requires further explanation. It is all the money paid into the company from shareholders, plus any earnings retained. Shareholders' equity can be calculated by subtracting the total liabilities of the company from the total assets of the company.

What Does Return On Equity Signify?

ROE measures a company's profitability against the profit it retains, and any outside investments. The 'return' is the amount earned after tax over the last twelve months. That means that the higher the ROE, the more profitable the company is. So, all else being equal,

a high ROE is better than a low one

. That means it can be interesting to compare the ROE of different companies.

Does Class Have A Good ROE?

By comparing a company's ROE with its industry average, we can get a quick measure of how good it is. The limitation of this approach is that some companies are quite different from others, even within the same industry classification. As is clear from the image below, Class has a better ROE than the average (15%) in the Software industry.

ASX:CL1 Past Revenue and Net Income, January 1st 2020

That's clearly a positive. In my book, a high ROE almost always warrants a closer look. For example,

I often check if insiders have been buying shares

.

How Does Debt Impact ROE?

Most companies need money -- from somewhere -- to grow their profits. That cash can come from retained earnings, issuing new shares (equity), or debt. In the first and second cases, the ROE will reflect this use of cash for investment in the business. In the latter case, the debt required for growth will boost returns, but will not impact the shareholders' equity. In this manner the use of debt will boost ROE, even though the core economics of the business stay the same.

Combining Class's Debt And Its 31% Return On Equity

One positive for shareholders is that Class does not have any net debt! Its impressive ROE suggests it is a high quality business, but it's even better to have achieved that without leverage. At the end of the day, when a company has zero debt, it is in a better position to take future growth opportunities.

Story continues

The Key Takeaway

Return on equity is one way we can compare the business quality of different companies. Companies that can achieve high returns on equity without too much debt are generally of good quality. If two companies have the same ROE, then I would generally prefer the one with less debt.

Having said that, while ROE is a useful indicator of business quality, you'll have to look at a whole range of factors to determine the right price to buy a stock. It is important to consider other factors, such as future profit growth -- and how much investment is required going forward. So I think it may be worth checking this

free

report on analyst forecasts for the company

.

Of course,

you might find a fantastic investment by looking elsewhere.

So take a peek at this

free

list of interesting companies.

If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at

[email protected]

. 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. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned.

We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Thank you for reading.

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