Jiangsu Zhongtian Technology (SHSE:600522) has had a great run on the share market with its stock up by a significant 18% over the last 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. Specifically, we decided to study Jiangsu Zhongtian Technology's ROE in this article.

Return on equity or ROE is a key measure used to assess how efficiently a company's management is utilizing the company's capital. Simply put, it is used to assess the profitability of a company in relation to its equity capital.

How Is ROE Calculated?

The formula for return on equity is:

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

So, based on the above formula, the ROE for Jiangsu Zhongtian Technology is:

7.8% = CN¥2.8b ÷ CN¥36b (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 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¥0.08 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. 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.

A Side By Side comparison of Jiangsu Zhongtian Technology's Earnings Growth And 7.8% ROE

When you first look at it, Jiangsu Zhongtian Technology's ROE doesn't look that attractive. Although a closer study shows that the company's ROE is higher than the industry average of 6.4% which we definitely can't overlook. This probably goes some way in explaining Jiangsu Zhongtian Technology's moderate 13% growth over the past five years amongst other factors. Bear in mind, the company does have a moderately low ROE. It is just that the industry ROE is lower. Hence there might be some other aspects that are causing earnings to grow. Such as- high earnings retention or the company belonging to a high growth industry.

As a next step, we compared Jiangsu Zhongtian 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 10%.

Earnings growth is a huge factor in stock valuation. 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 Jiangsu Zhongtian Technology's's valuation, check out this gauge of its price-to-earnings ratio, as compared to its industry.

Is Jiangsu Zhongtian Technology Using Its Retained Earnings Effectively?

In Jiangsu Zhongtian Technology's case, its respectable earnings growth can probably be explained by its low three-year median payout ratio of 24% (or a retention ratio of 76%), which suggests that the company is investing most of its profits to grow its business.

Moreover, Jiangsu Zhongtian Technology is determined to keep sharing its profits with shareholders which we infer from its long history of paying a dividend for at least ten years. Looking at the current analyst consensus data, we can see that the company's future payout ratio is expected to rise to 31% over the next three years. Regardless, the future ROE for Jiangsu Zhongtian Technology is speculated to rise to 11% despite the anticipated increase in the payout ratio. There could probably be other factors that could be driving the future growth in the ROE.

Conclusion

Overall, we are quite pleased with Jiangsu Zhongtian Technology's performance. In particular, it's great to see that the company has seen significant growth in its earnings backed by a respectable ROE and a high reinvestment rate. Having said that, looking at the current analyst estimates, we found that the company's earnings are expected to gain momentum. 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.