SUPCON Technology's (SHSE:688777) stock is up by a considerable 25% over the past three months. Since the market usually pay for a company's long-term fundamentals, we decided to study the company's key performance indicators to see if they could be influencing the market. Particularly, we will be paying attention to SUPCON Technology's ROE today.

Return on equity or ROE is an important factor to be considered by a shareholder because it tells them how effectively their capital is being reinvested. Simply put, it is used to assess the profitability of a company in relation to its equity capital.

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 SUPCON Technology is:

12% = CN¥1.2b ÷ CN¥10b (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2024).

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¥0.12 in profit.

Why Is ROE Important For 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.

SUPCON Technology's Earnings Growth And 12% ROE

To start with, SUPCON Technology's ROE looks acceptable. Especially when compared to the industry average of 6.5% the company's ROE looks pretty impressive. This probably laid the ground for SUPCON Technology's significant 28% net income growth seen over the past five years. We reckon that there could also be other factors at play here. For instance, the company has a low payout ratio or is being managed efficiently.

We then compared SUPCON Technology's net income growth with the industry and we're pleased to see that the company's growth figure is higher when compared with the industry which has a growth rate of 9.6% in the same 5-year period.

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). This then helps them determine if the stock is placed for a bright or bleak future. Is 688777 fairly valued? This infographic on the company's intrinsic value has everything you need to know.

Is SUPCON Technology Efficiently Re-investing Its Profits?

The three-year median payout ratio for SUPCON Technology is 31%, which is moderately low. The company is retaining the remaining 69%. By the looks of it, the dividend is well covered and SUPCON Technology is reinvesting its profits efficiently as evidenced by its exceptional growth which we discussed above.

Moreover, SUPCON Technology is determined to keep sharing its profits with shareholders which we infer from its long history of three years of paying a dividend. Looking at the current analyst consensus data, we can see that the company's future payout ratio is expected to rise to 40% over the next three years. However, SUPCON Technology's future ROE is expected to rise to 15% despite the expected increase in the company's payout ratio. We infer that there could be other factors that could be driving the anticipated growth in the company's ROE.

Conclusion

In total, we are pretty happy with SUPCON Technology's performance. 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. Having said that, the company's earnings growth is expected to slow down, as forecasted in the current analyst estimates. 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.