Fortuna Silver Mines (TSE:FVI) has had a rough three months with its share price down 20%. But if you pay close attention, you might find that its key financial indicators look quite decent, which could mean that the stock could potentially rise in the long-term given how markets usually reward more resilient long-term fundamentals. Particularly, we will be paying attention to Fortuna Silver Mines' ROE today.

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. Simply put, it is used to assess the profitability of a company in relation to its equity capital.

View our latest analysis for Fortuna Silver Mines

How To Calculate Return On Equity?

ROE can be calculated by using the formula:

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

So, based on the above formula, the ROE for Fortuna Silver Mines is:

7.0% = US$52m ÷ US$753m (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2021).

The 'return' is the yearly profit. That means that for every CA$1 worth of shareholders' equity, the company generated CA$0.07 in profit.

Why Is ROE Important For Earnings Growth?

Thus far, we have learned that ROE measures how efficiently a company is generating its profits. 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 Fortuna Silver Mines' Earnings Growth And 7.0% ROE

When you first look at it, Fortuna Silver Mines' ROE doesn't look that attractive. Next, when compared to the average industry ROE of 16%, the company's ROE leaves us feeling even less enthusiastic. Although, we can see that Fortuna Silver Mines saw a modest net income growth of 9.1% over the past five years. So, the growth in the company's earnings could probably have been caused by other variables. Such as – high earnings retention or an efficient management in place.

As a next step, we compared Fortuna Silver Mines' net income growth with the industry and were disappointed to see that the company's growth is lower than the industry average growth of 29% in the same period.

The basis for attaching value to a company is, to a great extent, tied to its earnings growth. 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 FVI fairly valued? This infographic on the company's intrinsic value has everything you need to know.

Is Fortuna Silver Mines Using Its Retained Earnings Effectively?

Conclusion

Overall, we feel that Fortuna Silver Mines certainly does have some positive factors to consider. Namely, its respectable earnings growth, which it achieved due to it retaining most of its profits. However, given the low ROE, investors may not be benefitting from all that reinvestment after all. Having said that, on studying current analyst estimates, we were concerned to see that while the company has grown its earnings in the past, analysts expect its earnings to shrink in the future. 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.

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