Hainan Strait ShippingLtd (SZSE:002320) has had a rough three months with its share price down 13%. However, the company's fundamentals look pretty decent, and long-term financials are usually aligned with future market price movements. Particularly, we will be paying attention to Hainan Strait ShippingLtd's ROE today.

ROE or return on equity is a useful tool to assess how effectively a company can generate returns on the investment it received from its shareholders. 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 Hainan Strait ShippingLtd

How Do You 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 Hainan Strait ShippingLtd is:

15% = CN¥923m ÷ CN¥6.1b (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2023).

The 'return' is the profit 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¥0.15 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. 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. Generally speaking, other things being equal, firms with a high return on equity and profit retention, have a higher growth rate than firms that don't share these attributes.

Hainan Strait ShippingLtd's Earnings Growth And 15% ROE

At first glance, Hainan Strait ShippingLtd seems to have a decent ROE. On comparing with the average industry ROE of 11% the company's ROE looks pretty remarkable. Given the circumstances, we can't help but wonder why Hainan Strait ShippingLtd saw little to no growth in the past five years. We reckon that there could be some other factors at play here that's limiting the company's growth. These include low earnings retention or poor allocation of capital.

Next, on comparing with the industry net income growth, we found that Hainan Strait ShippingLtd's reported growth was lower than the industry growth of 25% over the last few years, which is not something we like to see.

The basis for attaching value to a company is, to a great extent, tied to its earnings growth. 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. If you're wondering about Hainan Strait ShippingLtd's's valuation, check out this gauge of its price-to-earnings ratio, as compared to its industry.

Is Hainan Strait ShippingLtd Using Its Retained Earnings Effectively?

The high three-year median payout ratio of 73% (meaning, the company retains only 27% of profits) for Hainan Strait ShippingLtd suggests that the company's earnings growth was miniscule as a result of paying out a majority of its earnings.

In addition, Hainan Strait ShippingLtd has been paying dividends over a period of at least ten years suggesting that keeping up dividend payments is way more important to the management even if it comes at the cost of business growth.

Summary

In total, it does look like Hainan Strait ShippingLtd has some positive aspects to its business. Yet, the low earnings growth is a bit concerning, especially given that the company has a high rate of return. Investors could have benefitted from the high ROE, had the company been reinvesting more of its earnings. As discussed earlier, the company is retaining a small portion of its profits. Up till now, we've only made a short study of the company's growth data. To gain further insights into Hainan Strait ShippingLtd's past profit growth, check out this visualization 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.