With its stock down 14% over the past month, it is easy to disregard Yantai Shuangta Food (SZSE:002481). It is possible that the markets have ignored the company's differing financials and decided to lean-in to the negative sentiment. Long-term fundamentals are usually what drive market outcomes, so it's worth paying close attention. Specifically, we decided to study Yantai Shuangta Food's ROE in this article.

Return on Equity or ROE is a test of how effectively a company is growing its value and managing investors' money. Put another way, it reveals the company's success at turning shareholder investments into profits.

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 Yantai Shuangta Food is:

7.4% = CN¥194m ÷ CN¥2.6b (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2024).

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¥0.07 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. 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.

Yantai Shuangta Food's Earnings Growth And 7.4% ROE

At first glance, Yantai Shuangta Food's ROE doesn't look very promising. Yet, a closer study shows that the company's ROE is similar to the industry average of 8.1%. But then again, Yantai Shuangta Food's five year net income shrunk at a rate of 33%. Bear in mind, the company does have a slightly low ROE. Therefore, the decline in earnings could also be the result of this.

So, as a next step, we compared Yantai Shuangta Food's performance against the industry and were disappointed to discover that while the company has been shrinking its earnings, the industry has been growing its earnings at a rate of 2.9% over the last few years.

Earnings growth is an important metric to consider when valuing a stock. The investor should try to establish if the expected growth or decline in earnings, whichever the case may be, is priced in. By doing so, they will have an idea if the stock is headed into clear blue waters or if swampy waters await. If you're wondering about Yantai Shuangta Food's's valuation, check out this gauge of its price-to-earnings ratio, as compared to its industry.

Is Yantai Shuangta Food Using Its Retained Earnings Effectively?

Despite having a normal three-year median payout ratio of 33% (where it is retaining 67% of its profits), Yantai Shuangta Food has seen a decline in earnings as we saw above. It looks like there might be some other reasons to explain the lack in that respect. For example, the business could be in decline.

Additionally, Yantai Shuangta Food has paid dividends over a period of at least ten years, which means that the company's management is determined to pay dividends even if it means little to no earnings growth.

Summary

Overall, we have mixed feelings about Yantai Shuangta Food. While the company does have a high rate of reinvestment, the low ROE means that all that reinvestment is not reaping any benefit to its investors, and moreover, its having a negative impact on the earnings growth. Wrapping up, we would proceed with caution with this company and one way of doing that would be to look at the risk profile of the business. Our risks dashboard would have the 3 risks we have identified for Yantai Shuangta Food.

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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.