Shanghai Zhonggu Logistics Co., Ltd.'s (SHSE:603565) Stock Has Seen Strong Momentum: Does That Call For Deeper Study Of Its Financial Prospects?

Shanghai Zhonggu Logistics' (SHSE:603565) stock is up by a considerable 30% over the past three months. We wonder if and what role the company's financials play in that price change as a company's long-term fundamentals usually dictate market outcomes. Specifically, we decided to study Shanghai Zhonggu Logistics' 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. Simply put, it is used to assess the profitability of a company in relation to its equity capital.

View our latest analysis for Shanghai Zhonggu Logistics

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 Shanghai Zhonggu Logistics is:

16% = CN¥1.6b ÷ CN¥10b (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 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¥0.16.

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.

A Side By Side comparison of Shanghai Zhonggu Logistics' Earnings Growth And 16% ROE

At first glance, Shanghai Zhonggu Logistics seems to have a decent ROE. Especially when compared to the industry average of 11% the company's ROE looks pretty impressive. Probably as a result of this, Shanghai Zhonggu Logistics was able to see a decent growth of 8.3% over the last five years.

As a next step, we compared Shanghai Zhonggu Logistics' net income growth with the industry and were disappointed to see that the company's growth is lower than the industry average growth of 12% in the same period.

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. Doing so will help them establish if the stock's future looks promising or ominous. If you're wondering about Shanghai Zhonggu Logistics''s valuation, check out this gauge of its price-to-earnings ratio, as compared to its industry.

Is Shanghai Zhonggu Logistics Using Its Retained Earnings Effectively?

While Shanghai Zhonggu Logistics has a three-year median payout ratio of 74% (which means it retains 26% of profits), the company has still seen a fair bit of earnings growth in the past, meaning that its high payout ratio hasn't hampered its ability to grow.

Moreover, Shanghai Zhonggu Logistics is determined to keep sharing its profits with shareholders which we infer from its long history of four years of paying a dividend.

Summary

On the whole, we do feel that Shanghai Zhonggu Logistics has some positive attributes. The company has grown its earnings moderately as previously discussed. Still, the high ROE could have been even more beneficial to investors had the company been reinvesting more of its profits. As highlighted earlier, the current reinvestment rate appears to be quite low. On studying current analyst estimates, we found that analysts expect the company to continue its recent growth streak. To know more about the company's future earnings growth forecasts take a look at this free report on analyst forecasts for the company to find out more.

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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.