It is hard to get excited after looking at Space Group Holdings' (HKG:2448) recent performance, when its stock has declined 29% over the past three months. It seems that the market might have completely ignored the positive aspects of the company's fundamentals and decided to weigh-in more on the negative aspects. Fundamentals usually dictate market outcomes so it makes sense to study the company's financials. Particularly, we will be paying attention to Space Group Holdings' ROE today.

ROE or return on equity is a useful tool to assess how effectively a company can generate returns on the investment it received from its shareholders. Simply put, it is used to assess the profitability of a company in relation to its equity capital.

View our latest analysis for Space Group Holdings

How To Calculate Return On Equity?

ROE 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 Space Group Holdings is:

8.5% = MO$52m ÷ MO$607m (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2021).

The 'return' is the profit over the last twelve months. That means that for every HK$1 worth of shareholders' equity, the company generated HK$0.09 in profit.

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. 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.

A Side By Side comparison of Space Group Holdings' Earnings Growth And 8.5% ROE

When you first look at it, Space Group Holdings' ROE doesn't look that attractive. However, given that the company's ROE is similar to the average industry ROE of 8.0%, we may spare it some thought. Having said that, Space Group Holdings' five year net income decline rate was 9.8%. Bear in mind, the company does have a slightly low ROE. So that's what might be causing earnings growth to shrink.

As a next step, we compared Space Group Holdings' performance with the industry and found thatSpace Group Holdings' performance is depressing even when compared with the industry, which has shrunk its earnings at a rate of 2.1% in the same period, which is a slower than the company.

Earnings growth is a huge factor in stock valuation. It's important for an investor to know whether the market has priced in the company's expected earnings growth (or decline). Doing so will help them establish if the stock's future looks promising or ominous. If you're wondering about Space Group Holdings''s valuation, check out this gauge of its price-to-earnings ratio, as compared to its industry.

Is Space Group Holdings Making Efficient Use Of Its Profits?

Because Space Group Holdings doesn't pay any dividends, we infer that it is retaining all of its profits, which is rather perplexing when you consider the fact that there is no earnings growth to show for it. So there could be some other explanations in that regard. For instance, the company's business may be deteriorating.

Summary

On the whole, we feel that the performance shown by Space Group Holdings can be open to many interpretations. While the company does have a high rate of reinvestment, the low ROE means that all that reinvestment is not reaping any benefit to its investors, and moreover, its having a negative impact on the earnings growth. Wrapping up, we would proceed with caution with this company and one way of doing that would be to look at the risk profile of the business. Our risks dashboard would have the 4 risks we have identified for Space Group Holdings.

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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.