Dongguan Dingtong Precision Metal Co., Ltd.'s (SHSE:688668) Stock On An Uptrend: Could Fundamentals Be Driving The Momentum?

Dongguan Dingtong Precision Metal's (SHSE:688668) stock is up by a considerable 22% over the past month. As most would know, fundamentals are what usually guide market price movements over the long-term, so we decided to look at the company's key financial indicators today to determine if they have any role to play in the recent price movement. Specifically, we decided to study Dongguan Dingtong Precision Metal'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. Put another way, it reveals the company's success at turning shareholder investments into profits.

Check out our latest analysis for Dongguan Dingtong Precision Metal

How Do You Calculate Return On Equity?

The formula for return on equity is:

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

So, based on the above formula, the ROE for Dongguan Dingtong Precision Metal is:

2.9% = CN¥52m ÷ CN¥1.7b (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2024).

The 'return' is the income the business earned over the last year. So, this means that for every CN¥1 of its shareholder's investments, the company generates a profit of CN¥0.03.

Why Is ROE Important For Earnings Growth?

So far, we've learned that ROE is a measure of a company's profitability. 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. 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.

Dongguan Dingtong Precision Metal's Earnings Growth And 2.9% ROE

It is quite clear that Dongguan Dingtong Precision Metal's ROE is rather low. Not just that, even compared to the industry average of 6.9%, the company's ROE is entirely unremarkable. Although, we can see that Dongguan Dingtong Precision Metal saw a modest net income growth of 6.6% over the past five years. Therefore, the growth in earnings could probably have been caused by other variables. For instance, the company has a low payout ratio or is being managed efficiently.

As a next step, we compared Dongguan Dingtong Precision Metal's net income growth with the industry and were disappointed to see that the company's growth is lower than the industry average growth of 12% in the same period.

Earnings growth is an important metric to consider when valuing a stock. The investor should try to establish if the expected growth or decline in earnings, whichever the case may be, is priced in. By doing so, they will have an idea if the stock is headed into clear blue waters or if swampy waters await. If you're wondering about Dongguan Dingtong Precision Metal's's valuation, check out this gauge of its price-to-earnings ratio, as compared to its industry.

Is Dongguan Dingtong Precision Metal Using Its Retained Earnings Effectively?

Dongguan Dingtong Precision Metal has a healthy combination of a moderate three-year median payout ratio of 41% (or a retention ratio of 59%) and a respectable amount of growth in earnings as we saw above, meaning that the company has been making efficient use of its profits.

Moreover, Dongguan Dingtong Precision Metal is determined to keep sharing its profits with shareholders which we infer from its long history of three years of paying a dividend. Looking at the current analyst consensus data, we can see that the company's future payout ratio is expected to rise to 65% over the next three years. Still, forecasts suggest that Dongguan Dingtong Precision Metal's future ROE will rise to 9.6% even though the the company's payout ratio is expected to rise. We presume that there could some other characteristics of the business that could be driving the anticipated growth in the company's ROE.

Conclusion

Overall, we feel that Dongguan Dingtong Precision Metal certainly does have some positive factors to consider. Namely, its respectable earnings growth, which it achieved due to it retaining most of its profits. However, given the low ROE, investors may not be benefitting from all that reinvestment after all. Having said that, looking at the current analyst estimates, we found that the company's earnings are expected to gain momentum. Are these analysts expectations based on the broad expectations for the industry, or on the company's fundamentals? Click here to be taken to our analyst's forecasts page for the company.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.

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.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team@simplywallst.com