Modern Dental Group Limited's (HKG:3600) Stock's On An Uptrend: Are Strong Financials Guiding The Market?

Most readers would already be aware that Modern Dental Group's (HKG:3600) stock increased significantly by 42% 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. Particularly, we will be paying attention to Modern Dental Group's ROE today.

Return on Equity or ROE is a test of how effectively a company is growing its value and managing investors’ money. 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 Modern Dental Group

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 Modern Dental Group is:

13% = HK$330m ÷ HK$2.5b (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 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$0.13 in profit.

Why Is ROE Important For 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. 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.

Modern Dental Group's Earnings Growth And 13% ROE

To begin with, Modern Dental Group seems to have a respectable ROE. Especially when compared to the industry average of 10% the company's ROE looks pretty impressive. Probably as a result of this, Modern Dental Group was able to see an impressive net income growth of 26% 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 Modern Dental 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 14%.

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). By doing so, they will have an idea if the stock is headed into clear blue waters or if swampy waters await. 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 Modern Dental Group is trading on a high P/E or a low P/E, relative to its industry.

Is Modern Dental Group Efficiently Re-investing Its Profits?

Modern Dental Group's three-year median payout ratio is a pretty moderate 35%, meaning the company retains 65% of its income. This suggests that its dividend is well covered, and given the high growth we discussed above, it looks like Modern Dental Group is reinvesting its earnings efficiently.

Besides, Modern Dental Group has been paying dividends over a period of seven years. This shows that the company is committed to sharing profits with its shareholders. Our latest analyst data shows that the future payout ratio of the company over the next three years is expected to be approximately 40%. Still, forecasts suggest that Modern Dental Group's future ROE will rise to 16% even though the the company's payout ratio is not expected to change by much.

Conclusion

On the whole, we feel that Modern Dental Group's performance has been quite good. Particularly, we like that the company is reinvesting heavily into its business, and at a high rate of return. Unsurprisingly, this has led to an impressive earnings growth. With that said, the latest industry analyst forecasts reveal that the company's earnings growth is expected to slow down. To know more about the latest analysts predictions for the company, check out this visualization of analyst forecasts 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.