Guizhou Space Appliance's (SZSE:002025) stock is up by a considerable 24% over the past three months. We wonder if and what role the company's financials play in that price change as a company's long-term fundamentals usually dictate market outcomes. Specifically, we decided to study Guizhou Space Appliance'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. In short, ROE shows the profit each dollar generates with respect to its shareholder investments.

See our latest analysis for Guizhou Space Appliance

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 Guizhou Space Appliance is:

9.8% = CN¥612m ÷ CN¥6.2b (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2022).

The 'return' is the amount earned after tax over the last twelve months. Another way to think of that is that for every CN¥1 worth of equity, the company was able to earn CN¥0.10 in profit.

Why Is ROE Important For Earnings Growth?

Thus far, we have learned that ROE measures how efficiently a company is generating its profits. 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. 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 Guizhou Space Appliance's Earnings Growth And 9.8% ROE

On the face of it, Guizhou Space Appliance's ROE is not much to talk about. However, the fact that the its ROE is quite higher to the industry average of 7.4% doesn't go unnoticed by us. This certainly adds some context to Guizhou Space Appliance's moderate 13% net income growth seen over the past five years. Bear in mind, the company does have a moderately low ROE. It is just that the industry ROE is lower. Therefore, the growth in earnings could also be the result of other factors. Such as- high earnings retention or the company belonging to a high growth industry.

We then compared Guizhou Space Appliance's net income growth with the industry and found that the company's growth figure is lower than the average industry growth rate of 16% in the same period, which is a bit concerning.

Earnings growth is a huge factor in stock valuation. 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. If you're wondering about Guizhou Space Appliance's's valuation, check out this gauge of its price-to-earnings ratio, as compared to its industry.

Is Guizhou Space Appliance Efficiently Re-investing Its Profits?

Guizhou Space Appliance has a low three-year median payout ratio of 17%, meaning that the company retains the remaining 83% of its profits. This suggests that the management is reinvesting most of the profits to grow the business.

Moreover, Guizhou Space Appliance is determined to keep sharing its profits with shareholders which we infer from its long history of paying a dividend for at least ten years. Upon studying the latest analysts' consensus data, we found that the company's future payout ratio is expected to drop to 13% over the next three years. The fact that the company's ROE is expected to rise to 12% over the same period is explained by the drop in the payout ratio.

Summary

On the whole, we do feel that Guizhou Space Appliance has some positive attributes. Particularly, its earnings have grown respectably as we saw earlier, which was likely achieved due to the company reinvesting most of its earnings at a decent rate of return, to grow its business. Having said that, looking at the current analyst estimates, we found that the company's earnings are expected to gain momentum. 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.