Are Robust Financials Driving The Recent Rally In Yankuang Energy Group Company Limited's (HKG:1171) Stock?

Yankuang Energy Group (HKG:1171) has had a great run on the share market with its stock up by a significant 33% over the last month. 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. Particularly, we will be paying attention to Yankuang Energy Group's ROE today.

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. In other words, it is a profitability ratio which measures the rate of return on the capital provided by the company's shareholders.

View our latest analysis for Yankuang Energy 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 Yankuang Energy Group is:

25% = CN¥29b ÷ CN¥117b (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2023).

The 'return' is the profit over the last twelve months. One way to conceptualize this is that for each HK$1 of shareholders' capital it has, the company made HK$0.25 in profit.

What Is The Relationship Between ROE And Earnings Growth?

Thus far, we have learned that ROE measures how efficiently a company is generating its profits. Depending on how much of these profits the company reinvests or "retains", and how effectively it does so, we are then able to assess a company’s earnings growth potential. 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 Yankuang Energy Group's Earnings Growth And 25% ROE

To begin with, Yankuang Energy Group has a pretty high ROE which is interesting. Additionally, the company's ROE is higher compared to the industry average of 11% which is quite remarkable. As a result, Yankuang Energy Group's exceptional 31% net income growth seen over the past five years, doesn't come as a surprise.

As a next step, we compared Yankuang Energy Group's net income growth with the industry and found that the company has a similar growth figure when compared with the industry average growth rate of 28% in the same period.

Earnings growth is an important metric to consider when valuing a stock. 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. If you're wondering about Yankuang Energy Group's's valuation, check out this gauge of its price-to-earnings ratio, as compared to its industry.

Is Yankuang Energy Group Efficiently Re-investing Its Profits?

Yankuang Energy Group has a three-year median payout ratio of 38% (where it is retaining 62% of its income) which is not too low or not too high. So it seems that Yankuang Energy Group is reinvesting efficiently in a way that it sees impressive growth in its earnings (discussed above) and pays a dividend that's well covered.

Besides, Yankuang Energy Group has been paying dividends for at least ten years or more. This shows that the company is committed to sharing profits with its shareholders. Upon studying the latest analysts' consensus data, we found that the company's future payout ratio is expected to rise to 51% over the next three years. Accordingly, the expected increase in the payout ratio explains the expected decline in the company's ROE to 18%, over the same period.

Summary

Overall, we are quite pleased with Yankuang Energy Group's performance. Specifically, we like that the company is reinvesting a huge chunk of its profits at a high rate of return. This of course has caused the company to see substantial growth in its earnings. Having said that, on studying current analyst estimates, we were concerned to see that while the company has grown its earnings in the past, analysts expect its earnings to shrink in the future. 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.

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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.