Most readers would already be aware that 3SBio's (HKG:1530) stock increased significantly by 14% over the past month. Given that the market rewards strong financials in the long-term, we wonder if that is the case in this instance. Particularly, we will be paying attention to 3SBio's ROE today.

Return on equity or ROE is a key measure used to assess how efficiently a company's management is utilizing the company's capital. 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 3SBio

How Is ROE Calculated?

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 3SBio is:

11% = CN¥1.6b ÷ CN¥15b (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2021).

The 'return' is the amount earned after tax over the last twelve months. So, this means that for every HK$1 of its shareholder's investments, the company generates a profit of HK$0.11.

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 everything else remains unchanged, the higher the ROE and profit retention, the higher the growth rate of a company compared to companies that don't necessarily bear these characteristics.

A Side By Side comparison of 3SBio's Earnings Growth And 11% ROE

At first glance, 3SBio seems to have a decent ROE. On comparing with the average industry ROE of 8.1% the company's ROE looks pretty remarkable. This probably laid the ground for 3SBio's moderate 8.3% net income growth seen over the past five years.

As a next step, we compared 3SBio's net income growth with the industry and were disappointed to see that the company's growth is lower than the industry average growth of 12% in the same period.

Earnings growth is an important metric to consider when valuing a stock. 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. What is 1530 worth today? The intrinsic value infographic in our free research report helps visualize whether 1530 is currently mispriced by the market.

Is 3SBio Using Its Retained Earnings Effectively?

3SBio has a three-year median payout ratio of 25%, which implies that it retains the remaining 75% of its profits. This suggests that its dividend is well covered, and given the decent growth seen by the company, it looks like management is reinvesting its earnings efficiently.

Moreover, 3SBio is determined to keep sharing its profits with shareholders which we infer from its long history of four years of paying a dividend. Upon studying the latest analysts' consensus data, we found that the company's future payout ratio is expected to drop to 0.02% over the next three years. However, the company's ROE is not expected to change by much despite the lower expected payout ratio.

Summary

Overall, we are quite pleased with 3SBio'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 a good amount of growth in its earnings. The latest industry analyst forecasts show that the company is expected to maintain its current growth rate. Are these analysts expectations based on the broad expectations for the industry, or on the company's fundamentals? Click here to be taken to our analyst's forecasts page for the company.

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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.