Can Shuhua Sports Co., Ltd.'s (SHSE:605299) Weak Financials Pull The Plug On The Stock's Current Momentum On Its Share Price?

Shuhua Sports (SHSE:605299) has had a great run on the share market with its stock up by a significant 17% over the last three months. We, however wanted to have a closer look at its key financial indicators as the markets usually pay for long-term fundamentals, and in this case, they don't look very promising. In this article, we decided to focus on Shuhua Sports' 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. In simpler terms, it measures the profitability of a company in relation to shareholder's equity.

See our latest analysis for Shuhua Sports

How Do You Calculate Return On Equity?

ROE 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 Shuhua Sports is:

9.9% = CN¥123m ÷ CN¥1.2b (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2024).

The 'return' is the yearly profit. One way to conceptualize this is that for each CN¥1 of shareholders' capital it has, the company made CN¥0.10 in profit.

What Is The Relationship Between ROE And 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.

Shuhua Sports' Earnings Growth And 9.9% ROE

When you first look at it, Shuhua Sports' ROE doesn't look that attractive. Although a closer study shows that the company's ROE is higher than the industry average of 7.6% which we definitely can't overlook. However, Shuhua Sports' five year net income decline rate was 4.7%. Bear in mind, the company does have a slightly low ROE. It is just that the industry ROE is lower. So that could be one of the factors that are causing earnings growth to shrink.

Next, when we compared with the industry, which has shrunk its earnings at a rate of 3.4% in the same 5-year period, we still found Shuhua Sports' performance to be quite bleak, because the company has been shrinking its earnings faster than the industry.

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. Is Shuhua Sports fairly valued compared to other companies? These 3 valuation measures might help you decide.

Is Shuhua Sports Using Its Retained Earnings Effectively?

Shuhua Sports' declining earnings is not surprising given how the company is spending most of its profits in paying dividends, judging by its three-year median payout ratio of 93% (or a retention ratio of 7.4%). With only a little being reinvested into the business, earnings growth would obviously be low or non-existent.

Additionally, Shuhua Sports has paid dividends over a period of four years, which means that the company's management is rather focused on keeping up its dividend payments, regardless of the shrinking earnings.

Summary

Overall, we would be extremely cautious before making any decision on Shuhua Sports. The company has shown a disappointing growth in its earnings as a result of it retaining little to almost none of its profits. So, the decent ROE it does have, is not much useful to investors given that the company is reinvesting very little into its business. With that said, we studied the latest analyst forecasts and found that while the company has shrunk its earnings in the past, analysts expect its earnings to grow in the future. To know more about the latest analysts predictions for the company, check out this visualization of analyst forecasts for the company.

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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.