Nanxing Machinery (SZSE:002757) has had a rough month with its share price down 12%. However, stock prices are usually driven by a company's financial performance over the long term, which in this case looks quite promising. Particularly, we will be paying attention to Nanxing Machinery's ROE today.

Return on Equity or ROE is a test of how effectively a company is growing its value and managing investors' money. In simpler terms, it measures the profitability of a company in relation to shareholder's equity.

View our latest analysis for Nanxing Machinery

How To Calculate Return On Equity?

Return on equity 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 Nanxing Machinery is:

14% = CN¥334m ÷ CN¥2.4b (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2023).

The 'return' refers to a company's earnings over the last year. So, this means that for every CN¥1 of its shareholder's investments, the company generates a profit of CN¥0.14.

What Is The Relationship Between ROE And 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. 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.

Nanxing Machinery's Earnings Growth And 14% ROE

At first glance, Nanxing Machinery seems to have a decent ROE. Especially when compared to the industry average of 7.5% the company's ROE looks pretty impressive. Probably as a result of this, Nanxing Machinery was able to see a decent growth of 12% over the last five years.

As a next step, we compared Nanxing Machinery's net income growth with the industry and found that the company has a similar growth figure when compared with the industry average growth rate of 11% in the same period.

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). By doing so, they will have an idea if the stock is headed into clear blue waters or if swampy waters await. Is Nanxing Machinery fairly valued compared to other companies? These 3 valuation measures might help you decide.

Is Nanxing Machinery Using Its Retained Earnings Effectively?

Nanxing Machinery has a healthy combination of a moderate three-year median payout ratio of 41% (or a retention ratio of 59%) and a respectable amount of growth in earnings as we saw above, meaning that the company has been making efficient use of its profits.

Moreover, Nanxing Machinery is determined to keep sharing its profits with shareholders which we infer from its long history of eight years of paying a dividend.

Summary

Overall, we are quite pleased with Nanxing Machinery'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. If the company continues to grow its earnings the way it has, that could have a positive impact on its share price given how earnings per share influence long-term share prices. Remember, the price of a stock is also dependent on the perceived risk. Therefore investors must keep themselves informed about the risks involved before investing in any company. You can see the 2 risks we have identified for Nanxing Machinery by visiting our risks dashboard for free on our platform here.

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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.