Hiwin Mikrosystem Corporation (TWSE:4576) Is Going Strong But Fundamentals Appear To Be Mixed : Is There A Clear Direction For The Stock?

Simply Wall St · 10/15 23:32

Hiwin Mikrosystem's (TWSE:4576) stock is up by a considerable 38% over the past three months. However, we decided to pay attention to the company's fundamentals which don't appear to give a clear sign about the company's financial health. In this article, we decided to focus on Hiwin Mikrosystem's ROE.

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. Put another way, it reveals the company's success at turning shareholder investments into profits.

Check out our latest analysis for Hiwin Mikrosystem

How Is ROE Calculated?

The formula for ROE is:

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

So, based on the above formula, the ROE for Hiwin Mikrosystem is:

1.4% = NT$55m ÷ NT$4.0b (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2024).

The 'return' is the yearly profit. One way to conceptualize this is that for each NT$1 of shareholders' capital it has, the company made NT$0.01 in profit.

Why Is ROE Important For Earnings Growth?

Thus far, we have learned that ROE measures how efficiently a company is generating its profits. 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.

Hiwin Mikrosystem's Earnings Growth And 1.4% ROE

As you can see, Hiwin Mikrosystem's ROE looks pretty weak. Not just that, even compared to the industry average of 8.5%, the company's ROE is entirely unremarkable. As a result, Hiwin Mikrosystem's flat earnings over the past five years doesn't come as a surprise given its lower ROE.

We then compared Hiwin Mikrosystem's net income growth with the industry and found that the company's growth figure is lower than the average industry growth rate of 12% in the same 5-year period, which is a bit concerning.

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TWSE:4576 Past Earnings Growth October 15th 2024

Earnings growth is a huge factor in stock valuation. It’s important for an investor to know whether the market has priced in the company's expected earnings growth (or decline). This then helps them determine if the stock is placed for a bright or bleak future. Is Hiwin Mikrosystem fairly valued compared to other companies? These 3 valuation measures might help you decide.

Is Hiwin Mikrosystem Efficiently Re-investing Its Profits?

Despite having a moderate three-year median payout ratio of 37% (meaning the company retains63% of profits) in the last three-year period, Hiwin Mikrosystem's earnings growth was more or les flat. So there could be some other explanation in that regard. For instance, the company's business may be deteriorating.

Moreover, Hiwin Mikrosystem has been paying dividends for five years, which is a considerable amount of time, suggesting that management must have perceived that the shareholders prefer dividends over earnings growth.

Conclusion

On the whole, we feel that the performance shown by Hiwin Mikrosystem 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. So far, we've only made a quick discussion around the company's earnings growth. You can do your own research on Hiwin Mikrosystem and see how it has performed in the past by looking at this FREE detailed graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flows.