With its stock down 5.0% over the past three months, it is easy to disregard YTO Express GroupLtd (SHSE:600233). But if you pay close attention, you might gather that its strong financials could mean that the stock could potentially see an increase in value in the long-term, given how markets usually reward companies with good financial health. In this article, we decided to focus on YTO Express GroupLtd's ROE.

Return on Equity or ROE is a test of how effectively a company is growing its value and managing investors' money. Simply put, it is used to assess the profitability of a company in relation to its equity capital.

How To Calculate Return On Equity?

The formula for ROE is:

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

So, based on the above formula, the ROE for YTO Express GroupLtd is:

13% = CN¥3.8b ÷ CN¥30b (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2024).

The 'return' refers to a company's earnings over the last year. That means that for every CN¥1 worth of shareholders' equity, the company generated CN¥0.13 in profit.

What Has ROE Got To Do With 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. Assuming all else is equal, companies that have both a higher return on equity and higher profit retention are usually the ones that have a higher growth rate when compared to companies that don't have the same features.

YTO Express GroupLtd's Earnings Growth And 13% ROE

At first glance, YTO Express GroupLtd seems to have a decent ROE. On comparing with the average industry ROE of 8.3% the company's ROE looks pretty remarkable. Probably as a result of this, YTO Express GroupLtd was able to see an impressive net income growth of 22% over the last five years. We reckon that there could also be other factors at play here. For instance, the company has a low payout ratio or is being managed efficiently.

Next, on comparing with the industry net income growth, we found that YTO Express GroupLtd's growth is quite high when compared to the industry average growth of 10% in the same period, which is great to see.

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. Doing so will help them establish if the stock's future looks promising or ominous. Is YTO Express GroupLtd fairly valued compared to other companies? These 3 valuation measures might help you decide.

Is YTO Express GroupLtd Making Efficient Use Of Its Profits?

YTO Express GroupLtd's three-year median payout ratio to shareholders is 23%, which is quite low. This implies that the company is retaining 77% of its profits. So it looks like YTO Express GroupLtd is reinvesting profits heavily to grow its business, which shows in its earnings growth.

Moreover, YTO Express GroupLtd is determined to keep sharing its profits with shareholders which we infer from its long history of seven years of paying a dividend. Looking at the current analyst consensus data, we can see that the company's future payout ratio is expected to rise to 32% over the next three years. However, the company's ROE is not expected to change by much despite the higher expected payout ratio.

Conclusion

In total, we are pretty happy with YTO Express GroupLtd's performance. In particular, it's great to see that the company is investing heavily into its business and along with a high rate of return, that has resulted in a sizeable growth in its earnings. That being so, a study of the latest analyst forecasts show that the company is expected to see a slowdown in its future earnings growth. 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.