It is hard to get excited after looking at Yee Hop Holdings' (HKG:1662) recent performance, when its stock has declined 41% over the past three months. It seems that the market might have completely ignored the positive aspects of the company's fundamentals and decided to weigh-in more on the negative aspects. Fundamentals usually dictate market outcomes so it makes sense to study the company's financials. Specifically, we decided to study Yee Hop Holdings' ROE in this article.
Return on equity or ROE is a key measure used to assess how efficiently a company's management is utilizing the company's capital. Put another way, it reveals the company's success at turning shareholder investments into profits.
The formula for ROE is:
Return on Equity = Net Profit (from continuing operations) ÷ Shareholders' Equity
So, based on the above formula, the ROE for Yee Hop Holdings is:
6.6% = HK$34m ÷ HK$513m (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2025).
The 'return' is the yearly profit. So, this means that for every HK$1 of its shareholder's investments, the company generates a profit of HK$0.07.
Check out our latest analysis for Yee Hop Holdings
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 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.
When you first look at it, Yee Hop Holdings' ROE doesn't look that attractive. However, given that the company's ROE is similar to the average industry ROE of 6.0%, we may spare it some thought. But Yee Hop Holdings saw a five year net income decline of 9.9% over the past five years. Remember, the company's ROE is a bit low to begin with. Hence, this goes some way in explaining the shrinking earnings.
That being said, we compared Yee Hop Holdings' 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 0.9% in the same 5-year 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). This then helps them determine if the stock is placed for a bright or bleak future. Is Yee Hop Holdings fairly valued compared to other companies? These 3 valuation measures might help you decide.
In total, we're a bit ambivalent about Yee Hop Holdings' performance. 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. You can see the 1 risk we have identified for Yee Hop Holdings 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.