It is hard to get excited after looking at Beiersdorf's (ETR:BEI) recent performance, when its stock has declined 10% over the past month. However, stock prices are usually driven by a company’s financial performance over the long term, which in this case looks quite promising. Specifically, we decided to study Beiersdorf's  ROE in this article.

Return on equity or ROE is an important factor to be considered by a shareholder because it tells them how effectively their capital is being reinvested. Put another way, it reveals the company's success at turning shareholder investments into profits.

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How Is ROE Calculated?

The formula for ROE is:

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

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

11% = €928m ÷ €8.5b (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2024).

The 'return' is the yearly profit. Another way to think of that is that for every €1 worth of equity, the company was able to earn €0.11 in profit.

View our latest analysis for Beiersdorf

What Is The Relationship Between ROE And Earnings Growth?

So far, we've learned that ROE is a measure of a company's profitability. 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.

Beiersdorf's Earnings Growth And 11% ROE

To start with, Beiersdorf's ROE looks acceptable. Even when compared to the industry average of 12% the company's ROE looks quite decent. This probably goes some way in explaining Beiersdorf's moderate 6.6% growth over the past five years amongst other factors.

We then performed a comparison between Beiersdorf's net income growth with the industry, which revealed that the company's growth is similar to the average industry growth of 6.9% in the same 5-year period.XTRA:BEI Past Earnings Growth April 2nd 2025

Earnings growth is a huge factor in stock valuation. 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 BEI worth today? The  intrinsic value infographic in our free research report  helps visualize whether BEI is currently mispriced by the market.

Story Continues

Is Beiersdorf Using Its Retained Earnings Effectively?

Beiersdorf has a low three-year median payout ratio of 23%, meaning that the company retains the remaining 77% of its profits. This suggests that the management is reinvesting most of the profits to grow the business.

Besides, Beiersdorf has been paying dividends for at least ten years or more. This shows that the company is committed to sharing profits with its shareholders. Upon studying the latest analysts' consensus data, we found that the company is expected to keep paying out approximately 19% of its profits over the next three years. As a result, Beiersdorf's ROE is not expected to change by much either, which we inferred from the analyst estimate of 12% for future ROE.

Summary

On the whole, we feel that Beiersdorf's performance has been quite good. 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. Having said that, looking at the current analyst estimates, we found that the company's earnings are expected to gain momentum. 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.

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