It is hard to get excited after looking at Hainan Poly Pharm's (SZSE:300630) recent performance, when its stock has declined 38% over the past three months. But if you pay close attention, you might gather that its strong financials could mean that the stock could potentially see an increase in value in the long-term, given how markets usually reward companies with good financial health. Specifically, we decided to study Hainan Poly Pharm's ROE in this article.

Return on equity or ROE is a key measure used to assess how efficiently a company's management is utilizing the company's capital. Simply put, it is used to assess the profitability of a company in relation to its equity capital.

View our latest analysis for Hainan Poly Pharm

How Do You Calculate Return On Equity?

The formula for return on equity is:

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

So, based on the above formula, the ROE for Hainan Poly Pharm is:

17% = CN¥457m ÷ CN¥2.7b (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2022).

The 'return' is the yearly profit. So, this means that for every CN¥1 of its shareholder's investments, the company generates a profit of CN¥0.17.

What Is The Relationship Between ROE And Earnings Growth?

We have already established that ROE serves as an efficient profit-generating gauge for a company's future earnings. Based on how much of its profits the company chooses to reinvest or "retain", we are then able to evaluate a company's future ability to generate profits. 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 Hainan Poly Pharm's Earnings Growth And 17% ROE

To start with, Hainan Poly Pharm's ROE looks acceptable. Especially when compared to the industry average of 8.6% the company's ROE looks pretty impressive. Probably as a result of this, Hainan Poly Pharm was able to see an impressive net income growth of 34% over the last 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 Hainan Poly Pharm's growth is quite high when compared to the industry average growth of 9.0% in the same period, which is great to see.

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. By doing so, they will have an idea if the stock is headed into clear blue waters or if swampy waters await. 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 Hainan Poly Pharm is trading on a high P/E or a low P/E, relative to its industry.

Is Hainan Poly Pharm Efficiently Re-investing Its Profits?

Hainan Poly Pharm's three-year median payout ratio to shareholders is 18%, which is quite low. This implies that the company is retaining 82% of its profits. So it looks like Hainan Poly Pharm is reinvesting profits heavily to grow its business, which shows in its earnings growth.

Moreover, Hainan Poly Pharm is determined to keep sharing its profits with shareholders which we infer from its long history of four years of paying a dividend.

Summary

In total, we are pretty happy with Hainan Poly Pharm's performance. Specifically, we like that the company is reinvesting a huge chunk of its profits at a high rate of return. This of course has caused the company to see substantial growth in its earnings. That being so, a study of the latest analyst forecasts show that the company is expected to see a slowdown in its future earnings growth. To know more about the company's future earnings growth forecasts take a look at this free report on analyst forecasts for the company to find out more.

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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.