China Chunlai Education Group Co., Ltd.'s (HKG:1969) Stock Is Going Strong: Is the Market Following Fundamentals?

China Chunlai Education Group (HKG:1969) has had a great run on the share market with its stock up by a significant 47% over the last three months. Given the company's impressive performance, we decided to study its financial indicators more closely as a company's financial health over the long-term usually dictates market outcomes. In this article, we decided to focus on China Chunlai Education Group's ROE.

Return on Equity or ROE is a test of how effectively a company is growing its value and managing investors’ money. In simpler terms, it measures the profitability of a company in relation to shareholder's equity.

View our latest analysis for China Chunlai Education Group

How Is ROE Calculated?

The formula for return on equity is:

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

So, based on the above formula, the ROE for China Chunlai Education Group is:

22% = CN¥633m ÷ CN¥2.9b (Based on the trailing twelve months to February 2023).

The 'return' refers to a company's earnings over the last year. Another way to think of that is that for every HK$1 worth of equity, the company was able to earn HK$0.22 in profit.

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. 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.

China Chunlai Education Group's Earnings Growth And 22% ROE

To begin with, China Chunlai Education Group seems to have a respectable ROE. Further, the company's ROE compares quite favorably to the industry average of 13%. Probably as a result of this, China Chunlai Education Group was able to see an impressive net income growth of 40% over the last five years. We believe that there might also be other aspects that are positively influencing the company's earnings growth. For example, it is possible that the company's management has made some good strategic decisions, or that the company has a low payout ratio.

As a next step, we compared China Chunlai Education Group'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 2.9%.

Earnings growth is a huge factor in stock valuation. It’s important for an investor to know whether the market has priced in the company's expected earnings growth (or decline). 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 China Chunlai Education Group is trading on a high P/E or a low P/E, relative to its industry.

Is China Chunlai Education Group Making Efficient Use Of Its Profits?

China Chunlai Education Group's three-year median payout ratio to shareholders is 20%, which is quite low. This implies that the company is retaining 80% of its profits. So it seems like the management is reinvesting profits heavily to grow its business and this reflects in its earnings growth number.

While China Chunlai Education Group 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 rise to 30% over the next three years. However, the company's ROE is not expected to change by much despite the higher expected payout ratio.

Conclusion

Overall, we are quite pleased with China Chunlai Education Group's performance. In particular, it's great to see that the company is investing heavily into its business and along with a high rate of return, that has resulted in a sizeable growth in its earnings. If the company continues to grow its earnings the way it has, that could have a positive impact on its share price given how earnings per share influence long-term share prices. Let's not forget, business risk is also one of the factors that affects the price of the stock. So this is also an important area that investors need to pay attention to before making a decision on any business. Our risks dashboard will have the 1 risk we have identified for China Chunlai Education Group.

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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.