Anhui Sentai WPC Group Share (SZSE:301429) has had a great run on the share market with its stock up by a significant 12% over the last week. But the company's key financial indicators appear to be differing across the board and that makes us question whether or not the company's current share price momentum can be maintained. Specifically, we decided to study Anhui Sentai WPC Group Share'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. In short, ROE shows the profit each dollar generates with respect to its shareholder investments.
Check out our latest analysis for Anhui Sentai WPC Group Share
The formula for ROE is:
Return on Equity = Net Profit (from continuing operations) ÷ Shareholders' Equity
So, based on the above formula, the ROE for Anhui Sentai WPC Group Share is:
3.6% = CN¥47m ÷ CN¥1.3b (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¥0.04 in profit.
Thus far, we have learned that ROE measures how efficiently a company is generating its profits. We now need to evaluate how much profit the company reinvests or "retains" for future growth which then gives us an idea about the growth potential of the company. 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.
It is quite clear that Anhui Sentai WPC Group Share's ROE is rather low. Even compared to the average industry ROE of 5.7%, the company's ROE is quite dismal. For this reason, Anhui Sentai WPC Group Share's five year net income decline of 11% is not surprising given its lower ROE. We reckon that there could also be other factors at play here. Such as - low earnings retention or poor allocation of capital.
That being said, we compared Anhui Sentai WPC Group Share's performance with the industry and were concerned when we found that while the company has shrunk its earnings, the industry has grown its earnings at a rate of 0.2% in the same 5-year period.
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. Is Anhui Sentai WPC Group Share fairly valued compared to other companies? These 3 valuation measures might help you decide.
Looking at its three-year median payout ratio of 43% (or a retention ratio of 57%) which is pretty normal, Anhui Sentai WPC Group Share's declining earnings is rather baffling as one would expect to see a fair bit of growth when a company is retaining a good portion of its profits. So there could be some other explanations in that regard. For instance, the company's business may be deteriorating.
Additionally, Anhui Sentai WPC Group Share started paying a dividend only recently. So it looks like the management may have perceived that shareholders favor dividends even though earnings have been in decline.
On the whole, we feel that the performance shown by Anhui Sentai WPC Group Share can be open to many interpretations. While the company does have a high rate of profit retention, its low rate of return is probably hampering its 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 Anhui Sentai WPC Group Share.
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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.