| Most recent | Growth rate (CAGR) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 year | 5 years | 10 years | ||
| Book value of equity per share | $2.74 | -39% | -34.9% | -24.8% |
| BV including aggregate dividends | -39% | -34.9% | -24.8% | |
| Most recent | Median | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 year | 5 years | 10 years | ||
| ROE | -55.8% | -51.4% | -50.1% | -45% |
| ROA | -33.5% | -30.5% | -30% | -27.6% |
| Most recent | Growth rate (CAGR) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 year | 5 years | 10 years | ||
| EPS | -$1.99 | — | — | — |
| Annual dividends | $0 | — | — | — |
| Share price | $6.08 |
| Most recent | Median | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 year | 5 years | 10 years | ||
| P/B ratio | 2.22 | 1.4 | 1.3 | 1.4 |
| P/E ratio | — | — | — | — |
A company creates wealth for its long-term shareholders in 2 main ways - through dividend payments and through the accumulation of retained earnings. This graph shows the accumulation of per-share equity of long-term shareholders (green bars), which consists of the retained earnings plus all capital invested in the company, and the cumulative dividends the company has paid over time per share of its stock (blue bars).
In the words of Warren Buffett: "We're looking for... businesses earning good returns on equity while employing little or no debt."
Return on equity is a key metric of financial performance, indicating a company's ability to generate earnings using shareholder capital. Over time, ROE is one of the major determinants of the rate at which a company creates shareholder wealth. The average ROE for large U.S. companies is 12%, and many investors use it as a threshold for attractive investments.
Companies can boost ROE by increasing leverage, which reduces the safety of the investment. Therefore, it is useful to look at the return on assets (ROA), which measures a company's earning power regardless of its capital structure. A widening gap between ROE and ROA may be a warning sign that should be thoroughly investigated.
Earnings per share is a popular metric used to value a company (using P/E ratio); growth in EPS is often used to judge company growth potential. However, many investors believe that EPS is an inferior metric to ROE, because it ignores the amount of capital the company used to generate earnings.
Free cash flow shows how much cash a company generates from operations, above and beyond what is required to maintain or expand its productive assets. This cash can be returned to investors, or spent by management on growing the company or paying back its debts.
Balance sheets of many companies contain intangible assets such as goodwill, trademarks, patents, etc. Many investors consider intangibles more difficult to value than physical assets. If intangible assets had been valued incorrectly, they must be impaired, resulting in a loss charged against shareholder equity. This chart demonstrates the potential loss to shareholder equity from such impairments.
Companies often use debt financing to increase their return on equity. However, as the amount of debt financing increases relative to the amount of equity financing, the company becomes more sensitive to down turns and other negative events. As a result, many investors use the ratio of debt to equity as a measure of a company's financial risk, and avoid companies that have this ratio above 1.
This chart shows shareholder equity as a percentage of total assets, allowing investors to judge the overall leverage. Companies with a higher proportion of equity can be viewed as safer investments. This metric is particularly important for highly leveraged institutions, such as banks, where it must be at least 4% according to government regulations.
The ratio of current assets to current liabilities is known as the current ratio. This metric is a quick measure of the company's ability to pay its short-term obligations. A current ratio below 1 is a warning sign that should be investigated, especially for companies that cannot count on adequate cash flow from operations.
This chart shows the cumulative dilution of investor ownership in a company over time. Dilution reduces an investor's participation in the future earnings. Dilution increases when a company issues new shares, and decreases when a company buys its shares back. Many investors avoid companies with large chronic dilution.
DuPont
analysis provides insight into factors affecting the Return On Equity of a company.
The DuPont equation decomposes ROE as follows:
ROE = (Net margin) * (Asset turnover) * (Asset to equity ratio)
Net margin indicates operating efficiency, Asset turnover measures
the total asset use efficiency, and the Asset to equity ratio is a measure of financial leverage.
The dividend payout ratio tells investors what percentage of earnings a company returns to shareholders, and what percentage it retains and reinvests. This ratio represents a major capital allocation decision by the company, and can be used to judge management rationality. Rational management should pay out all earnings that cannot be productively reinvested. Therefore, a low dividend payout ratio for a profitable company with a low growth potential may be a warning sign.
Many investors use the P/B ratio as a quick way of judging company valuation. Value investors - followers of Graham and Dodd - specifically seek out companies with low P/B ratios. However, investors should be careful not to make investment decisions on this metric alone, without considering a company's earning and growth potential, since a low P/B ratio can be a sign of a bleak future for the business.
P/E ratio is a popular way of making a quick judgment of a company valuation. Value investors - followers of Graham and Dodd - often seek solid companies with low P/E ratios as investment opportunities. However, P/E ratio represents an oversimplified approach to business valuation, and can often lead to incorrect investment decisions.
In April 1997, the Company entered into a strategic alliance agreement with an affiliate of Electricite de France (EDF) under which EDF purchased one million shares of the Company's common stock at $10 per share. The Company intends to use the proceeds of this $10 million equity investment to accelerate the development and commercialization of HTS technology for uses specific to the electric utility industry.
On April 8, 1997, the Company completed the Merger with Superconductivity, Inc. (SI). The transaction was effected through the exchange of 942,961 shares of the Company's common stock for all of the issued and outstanding shares of SI, based on a Merger exchange ratio of .3292 shares of Company common stock for each share of SI common stock. As a result of the Merger, the Company also assumed approximately $6.4 million of SI's liabilities, approximately $3.9 million of which were paid in April, 1997.
On April 22, 1998, the Company completed a public offering of 3,504,121 shares of its common stock and received net proceeds of $46,114,000.
On March 6, 2000 the Company completed a public offering of 3,500,000 shares of its common stock and received net proceeds (after the underwriters discount but before deducting offering expenses) of $205,625,000.
In October 2003, the Company completed a public offering of 5,721,250 shares of its common stock at $9.50 per share. Net proceeds from the offering (after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions, but before deducting offering expenses) were $51,147,975. Net proceeds from the offering are to be used primarily for working capital and general corporate purposes, including the scale-up of pilot manufacturing for 2G HTS wire.
In March 2005, we completed a public equity offering of 4,600,000 shares of our common stock that generated net proceeds (after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions, but before deducting offering expenses) of $45,540,000, in order to supplement our cash available for operations as well as for capital expenditures for the scale-up of manufacturing of our 2G HTS wire.
On July 25, 2007, the Company completed a public offering of 4.7 million shares of its common stock at $21.25 per share. Net proceeds from the offering (after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions, but before deducting offering expenses) were $94.3 million.
In November 2010, the Company issued 4,600,000 shares of common stock at a price of $35.50 per share in a follow-on public offering, which resulted in net proceeds to the Company of approximately $155.2 million, after deducting the underwriting costs and offering expenses of $8.1 million. The Company intends to use the net proceeds of the offering to expand its superconductor wire manufacturing capacity, to pursue strategic business relationships for the purpose of executing its growth and diversification strategies, including minority investments and acquisitions, and for other general corporate purposes.
We performed our annual assessment of goodwill of the Windtec and PSNA reporting units on March 31, 2011. As a result of reductions in our revenue and operating forecasts related to Sinovel and certain of our other customers in China, we determined that the goodwill related to both the Windtec and PSNA reporting units was fully impaired. Accordingly, we recorded impairment charges of $42.1 million and $6.9 million for the Windtec and PSNA reporting units, respectively, during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2010.
As of March 31, 2014, we have received net proceeds, including sales commissions and offering expenses, of $7.5 million from sales of approximately 4.9 million shares of our common stock at an average sales price of $1.62 per share.
We recorded a $5.2 million loss in fiscal 2013 related to extinguishment of our Exchanged Note with CVI for approximately 6.6 million shares of common stock.
On November 13, 2014, the Company completed an offering of approximately 9.1 million units of its common stock to a single investor at a price of $1.10 per share. Each unit consisted of one share of the Company's common stock and 0.9 of a warrant to purchase one share of common stock, or a warrant to purchase in the aggregate 8.2 million shares. After deducting fees and expenses, the net proceeds from this offering were approximately $9.1 million.
On April 24, 2015, the Company entered into an underwriting agreement with Cowen and Company, LLC, as representative of the several underwriters named therein, relating to the issuance and sale of 4,000,000 shares of the Company's common stock at a public offering price of $6.00 per share. The net proceeds to the Company from the Offering were approximately $22.3 million, after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by the Company. The Offering closed on April 29, 2015.
On May 10, 2017, we completed an equity offering, which raised net proceeds of $14.7 million after deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us from the sale of 4.0 million shares of our common stock at a public offering price of $4.00 per share.