It is hard to get excited after looking at JA Solar Technology's (SZSE:002459) recent performance, when its stock has declined 19% over the past three months. 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. Particularly, we will be paying attention to JA Solar 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. In other words, it is a profitability ratio which measures the rate of return on the capital provided by the company's shareholders.

View our latest analysis for JA Solar Technology

How Is ROE Calculated?

The formula for ROE is:

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

So, based on the above formula, the ROE for JA Solar Technology is:

24% = CN¥9.1b ÷ CN¥39b (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2023).

The 'return' is the profit 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¥0.24 in profit.

What Is The Relationship Between ROE And Earnings Growth?

We have already established that ROE serves as an efficient profit-generating gauge for a company's future earnings. 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.

JA Solar Technology's Earnings Growth And 24% ROE

Firstly, we acknowledge that JA Solar Technology has a significantly high ROE. Additionally, the company's ROE is higher compared to the industry average of 6.3% which is quite remarkable. As a result, JA Solar Technology's exceptional 51% net income growth seen over the past five years, doesn't come as a surprise.

As a next step, we compared JA Solar Technology's 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 28%.

The basis for attaching value to a company is, to a great extent, tied to its earnings growth. The investor should try to establish if the expected growth or decline in earnings, whichever the case may be, is priced in. Doing so will help them establish if the stock's future looks promising or ominous. If you're wondering about JA Solar Technology's's valuation, check out this gauge of its price-to-earnings ratio, as compared to its industry.

Is JA Solar Technology Efficiently Re-investing Its Profits?

JA Solar Technology has a really low three-year median payout ratio of 9.5%, meaning that it has the remaining 90% left over to reinvest into its business. So it seems like the management is reinvesting profits heavily to grow its business and this reflects in its earnings growth number.

Additionally, JA Solar Technology has paid dividends over a period of three years which means that the company is pretty serious about sharing its profits with shareholders. Our latest analyst data shows that the future payout ratio of the company over the next three years is expected to be approximately 10%. Therefore, the company's future ROE is also not expected to change by much with analysts predicting an ROE of 22%.

Summary

In total, we are pretty happy with JA Solar Technology's performance. Particularly, we like that the company is reinvesting heavily into its business, and at a high rate of return. Unsurprisingly, this has led to an impressive earnings growth. Having said that, the company's earnings growth is expected to slow down, as forecasted in the current analyst estimates. To know more about the latest analysts predictions for the company, check out this visualization of analyst forecasts 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.