Will Weakness in Tongwei Co.,Ltd's (SHSE:600438) Stock Prove Temporary Given Strong Fundamentals?

TongweiLtd (SHSE:600438) has had a rough three months with its share price down 26%. However, stock prices are usually driven by a company’s financial performance over the long term, which in this case looks quite promising. Particularly, we will be paying attention to TongweiLtd's ROE today.

Return on equity or ROE is a key measure used to assess how efficiently a company's management is utilizing the company's capital. In other words, it is a profitability ratio which measures the rate of return on the capital provided by the company's shareholders.

Check out our latest analysis for TongweiLtd

How To 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 TongweiLtd is:

9.1% = CN¥6.7b ÷ CN¥73b (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2024).

The 'return' refers to a company's earnings over the last year. So, this means that for every CN¥1 of its shareholder's investments, the company generates a profit of CN¥0.09.

Why Is ROE Important For Earnings Growth?

So far, we've learned that ROE is a measure of a company's profitability. 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 everything else remains unchanged, the higher the ROE and profit retention, the higher the growth rate of a company compared to companies that don't necessarily bear these characteristics.

A Side By Side comparison of TongweiLtd's Earnings Growth And 9.1% ROE

At first glance, TongweiLtd's ROE doesn't look very promising. However, the fact that the company's ROE is higher than the average industry ROE of 5.8%, is definitely interesting. Particularly, the substantial 42% net income growth seen by TongweiLtd over the past five years is impressive . Bear in mind, the company does have a moderately low ROE. It is just that the industry ROE is lower. Hence, there might be some other aspects that are causing earnings to grow. For example, it is possible that the broader industry is going through a high growth phase, or that the company has a low payout ratio.

Next, on comparing with the industry net income growth, we found that TongweiLtd's growth is quite high when compared to the industry average growth of 20% in the same period, which is great to see.

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. This then helps them determine if the stock is placed for a bright or bleak future. If you're wondering about TongweiLtd's's valuation, check out this gauge of its price-to-earnings ratio, as compared to its industry.

Is TongweiLtd Making Efficient Use Of Its Profits?

TongweiLtd's three-year median payout ratio is a pretty moderate 33%, meaning the company retains 67% of its income. So it seems that TongweiLtd is reinvesting efficiently in a way that it sees impressive growth in its earnings (discussed above) and pays a dividend that's well covered.

Moreover, TongweiLtd is determined to keep sharing its profits with shareholders which we infer from its long history of paying a dividend for at least ten years. Upon studying the latest analysts' consensus data, we found that the company is expected to keep paying out approximately 27% of its profits over the next three years. Regardless, the future ROE for TongweiLtd is predicted to rise to 12% despite there being not much change expected in its payout ratio.

Summary

Overall, we are quite pleased with TongweiLtd's performance. In particular, it's great to see that the company has seen significant growth in its earnings backed by a respectable ROE and a high reinvestment rate. With that said, the latest industry analyst forecasts reveal that the company's earnings growth is expected to slow down. 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