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Is Digital Turbine, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:APPS) Stock's Recent Performance Being Led By Its Attractive Financial Prospects?

Most readers would already be aware that Digital Turbine's (NASDAQ:APPS) stock increased significantly by 120% over the past three months. 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. Particularly, we will be paying attention to Digital Turbine's ROE today.

Return on equity or ROE is a key measure used to assess how efficiently a company's management is utilizing the company's capital. Put another way, it reveals the company's success at turning shareholder investments into profits.

See our latest analysis for Digital Turbine

How Do You Calculate Return On Equity?

Return on equity 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 Digital Turbine is:

18% = US$14m ÷ US$77m (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2020).

The 'return' refers to a company's earnings over the last year. One way to conceptualize this is that for each $1 of shareholders' capital it has, the company made $0.18 in profit.

What Is The Relationship Between ROE And Earnings Growth?

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

Digital Turbine's Earnings Growth And 18% ROE

At first glance, Digital Turbine seems to have a decent ROE. On comparing with the average industry ROE of 12% the company's ROE looks pretty remarkable. This certainly adds some context to Digital Turbine's exceptional 38% net income growth seen over the past five years. However, there could also be other causes behind this growth. 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.

Next, on comparing with the industry net income growth, we found that Digital Turbine's growth is quite high when compared to the industry average growth of 26% in the same period, which is great to see.

NasdaqCM:APPS Past Earnings Growth June 15th 2020
NasdaqCM:APPS Past Earnings Growth June 15th 2020

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. Doing so will help them establish if the stock's future looks promising or ominous. One good indicator of expected earnings growth is the P/E ratio which determines the price the market is willing to pay for a stock based on its earnings prospects. So, you may want to check if Digital Turbine is trading on a high P/E or a low P/E, relative to its industry.

Is Digital Turbine Using Its Retained Earnings Effectively?

Digital Turbine doesn't pay any dividend to its shareholders, meaning that the company has been reinvesting all of its profits into the business. This is likely what's driving the high earnings growth number discussed above.

Summary

Overall, we are quite pleased with Digital Turbine'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. Having said that, the company's earnings growth is expected to slow down, as forecasted in the current analyst estimates. 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. 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. Thank you for reading.