Structural Monitoring Systems Plc's (ASX:SMN) Stock Is Going Strong: Have Financials A Role To Play?

Structural Monitoring Systems (ASX:SMN) has had a great run on the share market with its stock up by a significant 14% over the last week. Given that stock prices are usually aligned with a company's financial performance in the long-term, we decided to study its financial indicators more closely to see if they had a hand to play in the recent price move. Specifically, we decided to study Structural Monitoring Systems' 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 short, ROE shows the profit each dollar generates with respect to its shareholder investments.

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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 Structural Monitoring Systems is:

0.7% = AU$173k ÷ AU$24m (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2025).

The 'return' refers to a company's earnings over the last year. That means that for every A$1 worth of shareholders' equity, the company generated A$0.01 in profit.

Check out our latest analysis for Structural Monitoring Systems

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. Generally speaking, other things being equal, firms with a high return on equity and profit retention, have a higher growth rate than firms that don’t share these attributes.

Structural Monitoring Systems' Earnings Growth And 0.7% ROE

It is quite clear that Structural Monitoring Systems' ROE is rather low. Not just that, even compared to the industry average of 3.7%, the company's ROE is entirely unremarkable. Structural Monitoring Systems was still able to see a decent net income growth of 9.7% over the past five years. Therefore, the growth in earnings could probably have been caused by other variables. Such as - high earnings retention or an efficient management in place.

Next, on comparing with the industry net income growth, we found that Structural Monitoring Systems' growth is quite high when compared to the industry average growth of 7.0% in the same period, which is great to see.

Earnings growth is a huge factor in stock valuation. The investor should try to establish if the expected growth or decline in earnings, whichever the case may be, is priced in. This then helps them determine if the stock is placed for a bright or bleak future. If you're wondering about Structural Monitoring Systems''s valuation, check out this gauge of its price-to-earnings ratio, as compared to its industry.

Is Structural Monitoring Systems Using Its Retained Earnings Effectively?

Structural Monitoring Systems doesn't pay any regular dividends currently which essentially means that it has been reinvesting all of its profits into the business. This definitely contributes to the decent earnings growth number that we discussed above.

Conclusion

On the whole, we do feel that Structural Monitoring Systems has some positive attributes. Despite its low rate of return, the fact that the company reinvests a very high portion of its profits into its business, no doubt contributed to its high earnings growth. While we won't completely dismiss the company, what we would do, is try to ascertain how risky the business is to make a more informed decision around the company. Our risks dashboard would have the 2 risks we have identified for Structural Monitoring Systems.

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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.