ShenZhen GAD Environmental Technology (SZSE:300854) has had a rough week with its share price down 17%. We, however decided to study the company's financials to determine if they have got anything to do with the price decline. Long-term fundamentals are usually what drive market outcomes, so it's worth paying close attention. In this article, we decided to focus on ShenZhen GAD Environmental Technology's ROE.

Return on Equity or ROE is a test of how effectively a company is growing its value and managing investors' money. In other words, it is a profitability ratio which measures the rate of return on the capital provided by the company's shareholders.

Check out our latest analysis for ShenZhen GAD Environmental Technology

How Do You 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 ShenZhen GAD Environmental Technology is:

0.6% = CN¥5.7m ÷ CN¥984m (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2023).

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¥0.01.

Why Is ROE Important For Earnings Growth?

So far, we've learned that ROE is a measure of a company's profitability. 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. 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.

ShenZhen GAD Environmental Technology's Earnings Growth And 0.6% ROE

It is hard to argue that ShenZhen GAD Environmental Technology's ROE is much good in and of itself. Not just that, even compared to the industry average of 6.6%, the company's ROE is entirely unremarkable. For this reason, ShenZhen GAD Environmental Technology's five year net income decline of 14% is not surprising given its lower ROE. We believe that there also might be other aspects that are negatively influencing the company's earnings prospects. Such as - low earnings retention or poor allocation of capital.

However, when we compared ShenZhen GAD Environmental Technology's growth with the industry we found that while the company's earnings have been shrinking, the industry has seen an earnings growth of 8.2% in the same period. This is quite worrisome.

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. This then helps them determine if the stock is placed for a bright or bleak future. Is ShenZhen GAD Environmental Technology fairly valued compared to other companies? These 3 valuation measures might help you decide.

Is ShenZhen GAD Environmental Technology Using Its Retained Earnings Effectively?

When we piece together ShenZhen GAD Environmental Technology's low three-year median payout ratio of 15% (where it is retaining 85% of its profits), calculated for the last three-year period, we are puzzled by the lack of growth. This typically shouldn't be the case when a company is retaining most of its earnings. It looks like there might be some other reasons to explain the lack in that respect. For example, the business could be in decline.

Additionally, ShenZhen GAD Environmental Technology started paying a dividend only recently. So it looks like the management may have perceived that shareholders favor dividends even though earnings have been in decline.

Summary

On the whole, we feel that the performance shown by ShenZhen GAD Environmental Technology can be open to many interpretations. While the company does have a high rate of profit retention, its low rate of return is probably hampering its 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. You can see the 4 risks we have identified for ShenZhen GAD Environmental Technology by visiting our risks dashboard for free on our platform here.

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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.