With its stock down 10% over the past month, it is easy to disregard ACWA Power (TADAWUL:2082). However, the company's fundamentals look pretty decent, and long-term financials are usually aligned with future market price movements. Particularly, we will be paying attention to ACWA Power's 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. In short, ROE shows the profit each dollar generates with respect to its shareholder investments.

How To 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 ACWA Power is:

7.2% = ر.س2.2b ÷ ر.س31b (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2025).

The 'return' is the yearly profit. Another way to think of that is that for every SAR1 worth of equity, the company was able to earn SAR0.07 in profit.

Why Is ROE Important For Earnings Growth?

We have already established that ROE serves as an efficient profit-generating gauge for a company's future earnings. 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 ACWA Power's Earnings Growth And 7.2% ROE

It is hard to argue that ACWA Power's ROE is much good in and of itself. A comparison with the industry shows that the company's ROE is pretty similar to the average industry ROE of 7.9%. As a result, ACWA Power's decent 17% net income growth seen over the past five years bodes well with us. We reckon that there could also be other factors at play that are influencing the company's growth. Such as - high earnings retention or an efficient management in place.

Next, on comparing with the industry net income growth, we found that ACWA Power's growth is quite high when compared to the industry average growth of 7.9% in the same period, which is great to see.

Earnings growth is an important metric to consider when valuing a stock. It’s important for an investor to know whether the market has priced in the company's expected earnings growth (or decline). By doing so, they will have an idea if the stock is headed into clear blue waters or if swampy waters await. Is ACWA Power fairly valued compared to other companies? These 3 valuation measures might help you decide.

Is ACWA Power Making Efficient Use Of Its Profits?

ACWA Power has a healthy combination of a moderate three-year median payout ratio of 40% (or a retention ratio of 60%) and a respectable amount of growth in earnings as we saw above, meaning that the company has been making efficient use of its profits.

Besides, ACWA Power has been paying dividends over a period of four years. 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's future payout ratio is expected to drop to 23% over the next three years. As a result, the expected drop in ACWA Power's payout ratio explains the anticipated rise in the company's future ROE to 13%, over the same period.

Conclusion

Overall, we feel that ACWA Power certainly does have some positive factors to consider. Despite its low rate of return, the fact that the company reinvests a very high portion of its profits into its business, no doubt contributed to its high earnings growth. That being so, the latest analyst forecasts show that the company will continue to see an expansion in its earnings.

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.