HAND Enterprise Solutions (SZSE:300170) has had a rough three months with its share price down 28%. We, however decided to study the company's financials to determine if they have got anything to do with the price decline. Fundamentals usually dictate market outcomes so it makes sense to study the company's financials. Particularly, we will be paying attention to HAND Enterprise Solutions' ROE today.

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. In short, ROE shows the profit each dollar generates with respect to its shareholder investments.

How To Calculate Return On Equity?

The formula for ROE is:

Return on Equity = Net Profit (from continuing operations) ÷ Shareholders' Equity

So, based on the above formula, the ROE for HAND Enterprise Solutions is:

0.8% = CN¥39m ÷ CN¥4.9b (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2023).

The 'return' is the yearly profit. One way to conceptualize this is that for each CN¥1 of shareholders' capital it has, the company made CN¥0.01 in profit.

What Has ROE Got To Do With Earnings Growth?

Thus far, we have learned that ROE measures how efficiently a company is generating its profits. 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.

HAND Enterprise Solutions' Earnings Growth And 0.8% ROE

It is quite clear that HAND Enterprise Solutions' ROE is rather low. Even when compared to the industry average of 5.8%, the ROE figure is pretty disappointing. Therefore, HAND Enterprise Solutions' flat earnings over the past five years can possibly be explained by the low ROE amongst other factors.

Next, on comparing with the industry net income growth, we found that the industry grew its earnings by 7.5% over the last few years.

Earnings growth is a huge factor in stock valuation. What investors need to determine next is if the expected earnings growth, or the lack of it, is already built into the share price. This then helps them determine if the stock is placed for a bright or bleak future. 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 HAND Enterprise Solutions is trading on a high P/E or a low P/E, relative to its industry.

Is HAND Enterprise Solutions Making Efficient Use Of Its Profits?

Despite having a normal three-year median payout ratio of 43% (implying that the company keeps 57% of its income) over the last three years, HAND Enterprise Solutions has seen a negligible amount of growth in earnings as we saw above. So there might be other factors at play here which could potentially be hampering growth. For example, the business has faced some headwinds.

In addition, HAND Enterprise Solutions has been paying dividends over a period of at least ten years suggesting that keeping up dividend payments is way more important to the management even if it comes at the cost of business growth.

Conclusion

Overall, we have mixed feelings about HAND Enterprise Solutions. While the company does have a high rate of profit retention, its low rate of return is probably hampering its earnings growth. So far, we've only made a quick discussion around the company's earnings growth. You can do your own research on HAND Enterprise Solutions 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.