It is hard to get excited after looking at Guangdong Shenling Environmental Systems' (SZSE:301018) recent performance, when its stock has declined 39% over the past three months. But if you pay close attention, you might find that its key financial indicators look quite decent, which could mean that the stock could potentially rise in the long-term given how markets usually reward more resilient long-term fundamentals. Specifically, we decided to study Guangdong Shenling Environmental Systems' 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.

How Is ROE Calculated?

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 Guangdong Shenling Environmental Systems is:

7.1% = CN¥180m ÷ CN¥2.5b (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2023).

The 'return' refers to a company's earnings over the last year. Another way to think of that is that for every CN¥1 worth of equity, the company was able to earn CN¥0.07 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. 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 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.

Guangdong Shenling Environmental Systems' Earnings Growth And 7.1% ROE

When you first look at it, Guangdong Shenling Environmental Systems' ROE doesn't look that attractive. However, given that the company's ROE is similar to the average industry ROE of 7.4%, we may spare it some thought. On the other hand, Guangdong Shenling Environmental Systems reported a moderate 12% net income growth over the past five years. Given the slightly low ROE, it is likely that there could be some other aspects that are driving 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.

As a next step, we compared Guangdong Shenling Environmental Systems' net income growth with the industry, and pleasingly, we found that the growth seen by the company is higher than the average industry growth of 7.0%.

The basis for attaching value to a company is, to a great extent, tied to its earnings growth. What investors need to determine next is if the expected earnings growth, or the lack of it, is already built into the share price. Doing so will help them establish if the stock's future looks promising or ominous. Is 301018 fairly valued? This infographic on the company's intrinsic value has everything you need to know.

Is Guangdong Shenling Environmental Systems Making Efficient Use Of Its Profits?

Guangdong Shenling Environmental Systems has a healthy combination of a moderate three-year median payout ratio of 28% (or a retention ratio of 72%) and a respectable amount of growth in earnings as we saw above, meaning that the company has been making efficient use of its profits.

While Guangdong Shenling Environmental Systems has seen growth in its earnings, it only recently started to pay a dividend. It is most likely that the company decided to impress new and existing shareholders with a dividend. Upon studying the latest analysts' consensus data, we found that the company's future payout ratio is expected to drop to 4.0% over the next three years. As a result, the expected drop in Guangdong Shenling Environmental Systems' payout ratio explains the anticipated rise in the company's future ROE to 14%, over the same period.

Conclusion

In total, it does look like Guangdong Shenling Environmental Systems has some positive aspects to its business. With a high rate of reinvestment, albeit at a low ROE, the company has managed to see a considerable growth in its earnings. 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.