It is hard to get excited after looking at Suzhou Longway Eletronic Machinery's (SZSE:301202) recent performance, when its stock has declined 20% over the past month. It seems that the market might have completely ignored the positive aspects of the company's fundamentals and decided to weigh-in more on the negative aspects. Stock prices are usually driven by a company's financial performance over the long term, and therefore we decided to pay more attention to the company's financial performance. Particularly, we will be paying attention to Suzhou Longway Eletronic Machinery's ROE today.

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 other words, it is a profitability ratio which measures the rate of return on the capital provided by the company's shareholders.

Check out our latest analysis for Suzhou Longway Eletronic Machinery

How To Calculate Return On Equity?

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 Suzhou Longway Eletronic Machinery is:

5.7% = CN¥69m ÷ CN¥1.2b (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2023).

The 'return' is the amount earned after tax over the last twelve months. One way to conceptualize this is that for each CN¥1 of shareholders' capital it has, the company made CN¥0.06 in profit.

What Is The Relationship Between ROE And 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 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.

Suzhou Longway Eletronic Machinery's Earnings Growth And 5.7% ROE

At first glance, Suzhou Longway Eletronic Machinery's ROE doesn't look very promising. Yet, a closer study shows that the company's ROE is similar to the industry average of 6.3%. Even so, Suzhou Longway Eletronic Machinery has shown a fairly decent growth in its net income which grew at a rate of 10%. Considering the moderately low ROE, it is quite possible that there might be some other aspects that are positively influencing the company's earnings growth. Such as - high earnings retention or an efficient management in place.

As a next step, we compared Suzhou Longway Eletronic Machinery's net income growth with the industry and were disappointed to see that the company's growth is lower than the industry average growth of 13% in the same period.

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. Doing so will help them establish if the stock's future looks promising or ominous. 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 Suzhou Longway Eletronic Machinery is trading on a high P/E or a low P/E, relative to its industry.

Is Suzhou Longway Eletronic Machinery Making Efficient Use Of Its Profits?

The high three-year median payout ratio of 61% (or a retention ratio of 39%) for Suzhou Longway Eletronic Machinery suggests that the company's growth wasn't really hampered despite it returning most of its income to its shareholders.

Summary

In total, we're a bit ambivalent about Suzhou Longway Eletronic Machinery's performance. Although the company has shown a fair bit of growth in earnings, the reinvestment rate is low. Meaning, the earnings growth number could have been significantly higher had the company been retaining more of its profits and reinvesting that at a higher rate of return. So far, we've only made a quick discussion around the company's earnings growth. You can do your own research on Suzhou Longway Eletronic Machinery 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.