Is Shanghai Fullhan Microelectronics Co., Ltd.'s (SZSE:300613) Latest Stock Performance A Reflection Of Its Financial Health?

Shanghai Fullhan Microelectronics' (SZSE:300613) stock is up by a considerable 14% over the past three months. Since the market usually pay for a company’s long-term fundamentals, we decided to study the company’s key performance indicators to see if they could be influencing the market. Specifically, we decided to study Shanghai Fullhan Microelectronics' 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 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 Shanghai Fullhan Microelectronics

How Do You Calculate Return On Equity?

The formula for ROE is:

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

So, based on the above formula, the ROE for Shanghai Fullhan Microelectronics is:

8.2% = CN¥235m ÷ CN¥2.9b (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2024).

The 'return' is the profit 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¥0.08 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. 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 all else is equal, companies that have both a higher return on equity and higher profit retention are usually the ones that have a higher growth rate when compared to companies that don't have the same features.

A Side By Side comparison of Shanghai Fullhan Microelectronics' Earnings Growth And 8.2% ROE

When you first look at it, Shanghai Fullhan Microelectronics' ROE doesn't look that attractive. Although a closer study shows that the company's ROE is higher than the industry average of 6.8% which we definitely can't overlook. This probably goes some way in explaining Shanghai Fullhan Microelectronics' moderate 20% growth over the past five years amongst other factors. That being said, the company does have a slightly low ROE to begin with, just that it is higher than the industry average. So there might well be other reasons for the 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.

As a next step, we compared Shanghai Fullhan Microelectronics' 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 12%.

The basis for attaching value to a company is, to a great extent, tied to its earnings growth. The investor should try to establish if the expected growth or decline in earnings, whichever the case may be, is priced in. Doing so will help them establish if the stock's future looks promising or ominous. 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 Shanghai Fullhan Microelectronics is trading on a high P/E or a low P/E, relative to its industry.

Is Shanghai Fullhan Microelectronics Efficiently Re-investing Its Profits?

Shanghai Fullhan Microelectronics has a low three-year median payout ratio of 11%, meaning that the company retains the remaining 89% of its profits. This suggests that the management is reinvesting most of the profits to grow the business.

Additionally, Shanghai Fullhan Microelectronics has paid dividends over a period of eight years which means that the company is pretty serious about sharing its profits with shareholders.

Summary

On the whole, we feel that Shanghai Fullhan Microelectronics' performance has been quite good. 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. We also studied the latest analyst forecasts and found that the company's earnings growth is expected be similar to its current growth rate. To know more about the latest analysts predictions for the company, check out this visualization of analyst forecasts 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.