Are Zhejiang Whyis Technology Co.,Ltd.'s (SZSE:301218) Mixed Financials The Reason For Its Gloomy Performance on The Stock Market?

It is hard to get excited after looking at Zhejiang Whyis TechnologyLtd's (SZSE:301218) recent performance, when its stock has declined 23% over the past month. It seems that the market might have completely ignored the positive aspects of the company's fundamentals and decided to weigh-in more on the negative aspects. Fundamentals usually dictate market outcomes so it makes sense to study the company's financials. In this article, we decided to focus on Zhejiang Whyis TechnologyLtd's ROE.

Return on equity or ROE is an important factor to be considered by a shareholder because it tells them how effectively their capital is being reinvested. Simply put, it is used to assess the profitability of a company in relation to its equity capital.

View our latest analysis for Zhejiang Whyis TechnologyLtd

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 Zhejiang Whyis TechnologyLtd is:

3.4% = CN¥32m ÷ CN¥955m (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¥0.03 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. 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.

Zhejiang Whyis TechnologyLtd's Earnings Growth And 3.4% ROE

It is quite clear that Zhejiang Whyis TechnologyLtd's ROE is rather low. Not just that, even compared to the industry average of 4.6%, the company's ROE is entirely unremarkable. For this reason, Zhejiang Whyis TechnologyLtd's five year net income decline of 14% is not surprising given its lower ROE. However, there could also be other factors causing the earnings to decline. For example, the business has allocated capital poorly, or that the company has a very high payout ratio.

That being said, we compared Zhejiang Whyis TechnologyLtd's performance with the industry and were concerned when we found that while the company has shrunk its earnings, the industry has grown its earnings at a rate of 2.5% in the same 5-year period.

Earnings growth is an important metric to consider when valuing a stock. What investors need to determine next is if the expected earnings growth, or the lack of it, is already built into the share price. This then helps them determine if the stock is placed for a bright or bleak future. If you're wondering about Zhejiang Whyis TechnologyLtd's's valuation, check out this gauge of its price-to-earnings ratio, as compared to its industry.

Is Zhejiang Whyis TechnologyLtd Efficiently Re-investing Its Profits?

Zhejiang Whyis TechnologyLtd's low three-year median payout ratio of 16% (or a retention ratio of 84%) over the last three years should mean that the company is retaining most of its earnings to fuel its growth but the company's earnings have actually shrunk. This typically shouldn't be the case when a company is retaining most of its earnings. It looks like there might be some other reasons to explain the lack in that respect. For example, the business could be in decline.

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

Conclusion

On the whole, we feel that the performance shown by Zhejiang Whyis TechnologyLtd can be open to many interpretations. While the company does have a high rate of reinvestment, the low ROE means that all that reinvestment is not reaping any benefit to its investors, and moreover, its having a negative impact on the earnings growth. Wrapping up, we would proceed with caution with this company and one way of doing that would be to look at the risk profile of the business. You can see the 4 risks we have identified for Zhejiang Whyis TechnologyLtd by visiting our risks dashboard for free on our platform here.

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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.