Is Huaxia Eye Hospital Group Co.,Ltd.'s (SZSE:301267) Latest Stock Performance Being Led By Its Strong Fundamentals?

Most readers would already know that Huaxia Eye Hospital GroupLtd's (SZSE:301267) stock increased by 4.7% over the past three months. Since the market usually pay for a company’s long-term financial health, we decided to study the company’s fundamentals to see if they could be influencing the market. Particularly, we will be paying attention to Huaxia Eye Hospital GroupLtd's ROE today.

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 Do You 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 Huaxia Eye Hospital GroupLtd is:

9.1% = CN¥550m ÷ CN¥6.0b (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2024).

The 'return' is the amount earned after tax over the last twelve months. Another way to think of that is that for every CN¥1 worth of equity, the company was able to earn CN¥0.09 in profit.

See our latest analysis for Huaxia Eye Hospital GroupLtd

What Has ROE Got To Do With Earnings Growth?

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

Huaxia Eye Hospital GroupLtd's Earnings Growth And 9.1% ROE

When you first look at it, Huaxia Eye Hospital GroupLtd's ROE doesn't look that attractive. Although a closer study shows that the company's ROE is higher than the industry average of 6.7% which we definitely can't overlook. This probably goes some way in explaining Huaxia Eye Hospital GroupLtd's moderate 16% growth over the past five years amongst other factors. Bear in mind, the company does have a moderately low ROE. It is just that the industry ROE is lower. So there might well be other reasons for the earnings to grow. E.g the company has a low payout ratio or could belong to a high growth industry.

As a next step, we compared Huaxia Eye Hospital GroupLtd's net income growth with the industry, and pleasingly, we found that the growth seen by the company is higher than the average industry growth of 1.3%.

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. One good indicator of expected earnings growth is the P/E ratio which determines the price the market is willing to pay for a stock based on its earnings prospects. So, you may want to check if Huaxia Eye Hospital GroupLtd is trading on a high P/E or a low P/E, relative to its industry.

Is Huaxia Eye Hospital GroupLtd Efficiently Re-investing Its Profits?

Huaxia Eye Hospital GroupLtd's three-year median payout ratio to shareholders is 20% (implying that it retains 80% of its income), which is on the lower side, so it seems like the management is reinvesting profits heavily to grow its business.

While Huaxia Eye Hospital GroupLtd has been growing its earnings, it only recently started to pay dividends which likely means that the company decided to impress new and existing shareholders with a dividend. Upon studying the latest analysts' consensus data, we found that the company's future payout ratio is expected to drop to 14% over the next three years. The fact that the company's ROE is expected to rise to 13% over the same period is explained by the drop in the payout ratio.

Conclusion

On the whole, we feel that Huaxia Eye Hospital GroupLtd's performance has been quite good. Particularly, we like that the company is reinvesting heavily into its business at a moderate rate of return. Unsurprisingly, this has led to an impressive earnings growth. 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.

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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.