Jiangxi Chenguang New Materials (SHSE:605399) has had a rough three months with its share price down 14%. However, the company's fundamentals look pretty decent, and long-term financials are usually aligned with future market price movements. Specifically, we decided to study Jiangxi Chenguang New Materials' 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 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 Jiangxi Chenguang New Materials is:

3.9% = CN¥86m ÷ CN¥2.2b (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2024).

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¥0.04 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. Based on how much of its profits the company chooses to reinvest or "retain", we are then able to evaluate a company's future ability to generate profits. 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 Jiangxi Chenguang New Materials' Earnings Growth And 3.9% ROE

As you can see, Jiangxi Chenguang New Materials' ROE looks pretty weak. Not just that, even compared to the industry average of 6.4%, the company's ROE is entirely unremarkable. Jiangxi Chenguang New Materials was still able to see a decent net income growth of 16% over the past five years. Therefore, the growth in earnings could probably have been caused by other variables. For example, it is possible that the company's management has made some good strategic decisions, or that the company has a low payout ratio.

As a next step, we compared Jiangxi Chenguang New Materials' 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 7.8%.

The basis for attaching value to a company is, to a great extent, tied to its earnings growth. What investors need to determine next is if the expected earnings growth, or the lack of it, is already built into the share price. 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 Jiangxi Chenguang New Materials''s valuation, check out this gauge of its price-to-earnings ratio, as compared to its industry.

Is Jiangxi Chenguang New Materials Efficiently Re-investing Its Profits?

Jiangxi Chenguang New Materials' three-year median payout ratio to shareholders is 17% (implying that it retains 83% of its income), which is on the lower side, so it seems like the management is reinvesting profits heavily to grow its business.

Additionally, Jiangxi Chenguang New Materials has paid dividends over a period of three years which means that the company is pretty serious about sharing its profits with shareholders.

Conclusion

Overall, we feel that Jiangxi Chenguang New Materials certainly does have some positive factors to consider. Despite its low rate of return, the fact that the company reinvests a very high portion of its profits into its business, no doubt contributed to its high earnings growth. While we won't completely dismiss the company, what we would do, is try to ascertain how risky the business is to make a more informed decision around the company. Our risks dashboard would have the 3 risks we have identified for Jiangxi Chenguang New Materials.

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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.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team@simplywallst.com