Are Strong Financial Prospects The Force That Is Driving The Momentum In Multi-Chem Limited's SGX:AWZ) Stock?

Multi-Chem (SGX:AWZ) has had a great run on the share market with its stock up by a significant 14% over the last three months. Given the company's impressive performance, we decided to study its financial indicators more closely as a company's financial health over the long-term usually dictates market outcomes. In this article, we decided to focus on Multi-Chem's ROE.

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. Put another way, it reveals the company's success at turning shareholder investments into profits.

Check out our latest analysis for Multi-Chem

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 Multi-Chem is:

19% = S$27m ÷ S$144m (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2023).

The 'return' is the income the business earned over the last year. One way to conceptualize this is that for each SGD1 of shareholders' capital it has, the company made SGD0.19 in profit.

What Has ROE Got To Do With Earnings Growth?

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

Multi-Chem's Earnings Growth And 19% ROE

At first glance, Multi-Chem seems to have a decent ROE. On comparing with the average industry ROE of 11% the company's ROE looks pretty remarkable. This probably laid the ground for Multi-Chem's significant 25% net income growth seen over the past 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.

We then compared Multi-Chem's net income growth with the industry and we're pleased to see that the company's growth figure is higher when compared with the industry which has a growth rate of 9.8% in the same 5-year period.

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. 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 Multi-Chem is trading on a high P/E or a low P/E, relative to its industry.

Is Multi-Chem Efficiently Re-investing Its Profits?

The high three-year median payout ratio of 55% (implying that it keeps only 45% of profits) for Multi-Chem suggests that the company's growth wasn't really hampered despite it returning most of the earnings to its shareholders.

Additionally, Multi-Chem has paid dividends over a period of at least ten years which means that the company is pretty serious about sharing its profits with shareholders.

Summary

On the whole, we feel that Multi-Chem's performance has been quite good. Especially the high ROE, Which has contributed to the impressive growth seen in earnings. Despite the company reinvesting only a small portion of its profits, it still has managed to grow its earnings so that is appreciable. So far, we've only made a quick discussion around the company's earnings growth. You can do your own research on Multi-Chem and see how it has performed in the past by looking at this FREE detailed graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flows.

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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.