FMG share price in focus
Fortescue Ltd is an iron ore production and exploration company with assets located in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. The company was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in Perth.
Fortescue’s main operation is in iron ore production, shipping more than 190 million tonnes annually. However, Fortescue has also been ramping up exploration activities across Australia, Argentina, Chile, Brazil, and Kazakhstan for materials like copper, rare earths, and lithium.
This is part of Fortescue’s long-term strategy to take advantage of the shift to renewable energy. Demand for copper, lithium, and other rare earths are expected to skyrocket and Fortescue intends to fill that demand.
Let’s talk profits
Annual reports and income statements can be very complex and hard to get your head around as a new investor. While there are any number of figures you could pull from the income statement, three key ones are revenue, gross margin, and profit.
Revenue is sometimes referred to as the ‘top line’ – everything starts here. If you can’t generate revenue, you can’t generate profit. What we’re interested in is not so much the absolute number, but the trend. FMG last reported an annual revenue of $18,220m with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) over the last 3 years of -6.5% per year.
Gross margin is the next big number on the income statement. The gross margin tells us how profitable the core products/services are – before you take into account all the overhead costs, how much money does the company make from selling $100 worth of goods/services? FMG’s latest reported gross margin was 52.4%.
Finally, the number we’re most interested in – profit. Last financial year Fortescue Ltd reported a profit of $5,683m. That compares to 3 years ago when they made a profit of $10,295m, representing a CAGR of -18.0%.
A pulse check on FMG shares
The next thing we need to consider is the capital health of the company. Is the company generating a reasonable return on their equity (the total shareholder value) and do they have a decent safety buffer? One measure we can look at is net debt. This is simply the total debt minus the company’s cash holdings.
In the case of Fortescue Ltd, the current net debt sits at $497m. High net debt can mean higher interest payments, greater instability, and higher sensitivity to interest rates. A negative value on the other hand indicates the company has more cash than debt – a good position to be in.
Another figure we can look at is the debt/equity percentage. This tells us how much debt the company has relative to shareholder equity. In other words, how leveraged is the company? FMG has a debt/equity ratio of 27.6%, which means they have more equity than debt.
Finally, we can look at the return on equity (ROE). The ROE tells us how much profit a company is generating as a percentage of its total equity – high numbers indicate the company is generating a lot of value for investors, while a low number raises concerns that capital isn’t necessarily being allocated efficiently. FMG generated an ROE of 30.2% in FY24.
What to make of FMG shares?
The high return on equity might suggest that FMG is a company worth watching, but I’d be wary of the negative trend in profit and revenue.
Please keep in mind this should only be the beginning of your research. It’s important to get a good grasp of the company’s financials and compare it to its peers. It’s also important to make sure the company is priced fairly. To learn more about share price valuation, you can sign up for one of our many free online investing courses.
