Porton Pharma Solutions (SZSE:300363) has had a rough three months with its share price down 26%. However, a closer look at its sound financials might cause you to think again. Given that fundamentals usually drive long-term market outcomes, the company is worth looking at. Specifically, we decided to study Porton Pharma Solutions' ROE in this article.

Return on Equity or ROE is a test of how effectively a company is growing its value and managing investors' money. Simply put, it is used to assess the profitability of a company in relation to its equity capital.

How Is ROE Calculated?

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 Porton Pharma Solutions is:

13% = CN¥791m ÷ CN¥6.3b (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¥0.13 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. Depending on how much of these profits the company reinvests or "retains", and how effectively it does so, we are then able to assess a company's earnings growth potential. 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.

Porton Pharma Solutions' Earnings Growth And 13% ROE

To start with, Porton Pharma Solutions' ROE looks acceptable. Especially when compared to the industry average of 8.2% the company's ROE looks pretty impressive. Probably as a result of this, Porton Pharma Solutions was able to see an impressive net income growth of 51% over the last five years. However, there could also be other causes behind this growth. Such as - high earnings retention or an efficient management in place.

As a next step, we compared Porton Pharma Solutions' 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 11%.

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. Is Porton Pharma Solutions fairly valued compared to other companies? These 3 valuation measures might help you decide.

Is Porton Pharma Solutions Making Efficient Use Of Its Profits?

Porton Pharma Solutions' ' three-year median payout ratio is on the lower side at 19% implying that it is retaining a higher percentage (81%) of its profits. This suggests that the management is reinvesting most of the profits to grow the business as evidenced by the growth seen by the company.

Besides, Porton Pharma Solutions has been paying dividends for at least ten years or more. This shows that the company is committed to sharing profits with its shareholders. Upon studying the latest analysts' consensus data, we found that the company's future payout ratio is expected to rise to 30% over the next three years. Accordingly, the expected increase in the payout ratio explains the expected decline in the company's ROE to 7.9%, over the same period.

Conclusion

On the whole, we feel that Porton Pharma Solutions' performance has been quite good. In particular, it's great to see that the company is investing heavily into its business and along with a high rate of return, that has resulted in a sizeable growth in its earnings. With that said, on studying the latest analyst forecasts, we found that while the company has seen growth in its past earnings, analysts expect its future earnings to shrink. 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.