Most readers would already know that Woodside Energy Group's (ASX:WDS) stock increased by 3.0% over the past month. As most would know, long-term fundamentals have a strong correlation with market price movements, so we decided to look at the company's key financial indicators today to determine if they have any role to play in the recent price movement. Specifically, we decided to study Woodside Energy Group'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.

See our latest analysis for Woodside Energy Group

How To Calculate Return On Equity?

The formula for ROE is:

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

So, based on the above formula, the ROE for Woodside Energy Group is:

4.9% = US$1.7b ÷ US$35b (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2023).

The 'return' is the income the business earned over the last year. Another way to think of that is that for every A$1 worth of equity, the company was able to earn A$0.05 in profit.

Why Is ROE Important For 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. Assuming all else is equal, companies that have both a higher return on equity and higher profit retention are usually the ones that have a higher growth rate when compared to companies that don't have the same features.

A Side By Side comparison of Woodside Energy Group's Earnings Growth And 4.9% ROE

On the face of it, Woodside Energy Group's ROE is not much to talk about. Next, when compared to the average industry ROE of 15%, the company's ROE leaves us feeling even less enthusiastic. In spite of this, Woodside Energy Group was able to grow its net income considerably, at a rate of 44% in the last five years. So, there might be other aspects that are positively influencing the company's earnings growth. Such as - high earnings retention or an efficient management in place.



As a next step, we compared Woodside Energy Group'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 33%. past-earnings-growth

Earnings growth is an important metric to consider when valuing a stock. The investor should try to establish if the expected growth or decline in earnings, whichever the case may be, is priced in. Doing so will help them establish if the stock's future looks promising or ominous. Is WDS fairly valued? This infographic on the company's intrinsic value  has everything you need to know.

Is Woodside Energy Group Efficiently Re-investing Its Profits?

The high three-year median payout ratio of 66% (implying that it keeps only 34% of profits) for Woodside Energy Group suggests that the company's growth wasn't really hampered despite it returning most of the earnings to its shareholders.

Moreover, Woodside Energy Group is determined to keep sharing its profits with shareholders which we infer from its long history of paying a dividend for at least ten years. Upon studying the latest analysts' consensus data, we found that the company's future payout ratio is expected to rise to 81% over the next three years. Still, forecasts suggest that Woodside Energy Group's future ROE will rise to 5.9% even though the the company's payout ratio is expected to rise. We presume that there could some other characteristics of the business that could be driving the anticipated growth in the company's ROE.

Summary

In total, it does look like Woodside Energy Group has some positive aspects to its business. Namely, its high earnings growth. We do however feel that the earnings growth number could have been even higher, had the company been reinvesting more of its earnings and paid out less dividends. With that said, the latest industry analyst forecasts reveal that the company's earnings growth is expected to slow down. 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.