Most readers would already be aware that Zhangzhou Pientzehuang Pharmaceutical's (SHSE:600436) stock increased significantly by 23% over the past three months. Since the market usually pay for a company's long-term fundamentals, we decided to study the company's key performance indicators to see if they could be influencing the market. Specifically, we decided to study Zhangzhou Pientzehuang Pharmaceutical's ROE in this article.

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.

How Do You 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 Zhangzhou Pientzehuang Pharmaceutical is:

21% = CN¥3.1b ÷ CN¥15b (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 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¥0.21 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. 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.

Zhangzhou Pientzehuang Pharmaceutical's Earnings Growth And 21% ROE

To begin with, Zhangzhou Pientzehuang Pharmaceutical seems to have a respectable ROE. Further, the company's ROE compares quite favorably to the industry average of 7.7%. This probably laid the ground for Zhangzhou Pientzehuang Pharmaceutical's moderate 16% net income growth seen over the past five years.

Next, on comparing with the industry net income growth, we found that Zhangzhou Pientzehuang Pharmaceutical's growth is quite high when compared to the industry average growth of 9.0% in the same period, which is great to see.

Earnings growth is a huge factor in stock valuation. 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. What is 600436 worth today? The intrinsic value infographic in our free research report helps visualize whether 600436 is currently mispriced by the market.

Is Zhangzhou Pientzehuang Pharmaceutical Efficiently Re-investing Its Profits?

Zhangzhou Pientzehuang Pharmaceutical has a three-year median payout ratio of 30%, which implies that it retains the remaining 70% of its profits. This suggests that its dividend is well covered, and given the decent growth seen by the company, it looks like management is reinvesting its earnings efficiently.

Additionally, Zhangzhou Pientzehuang Pharmaceutical has paid dividends over a period of at least ten years which means that the company is pretty serious about sharing its profits with shareholders. Our latest analyst data shows that the future payout ratio of the company is expected to rise to 36% over the next three years. However, the company's ROE is not expected to change by much despite the higher expected payout ratio.

Summary

Overall, we are quite pleased with Zhangzhou Pientzehuang Pharmaceutical'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. On studying current analyst estimates, we found that analysts expect the company to continue its recent growth streak. 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.