Hygeia Healthcare Holdings Co., Limited's (HKG:6078) Stock Has Been Sliding But Fundamentals Look Strong: Is The Market Wrong?

Hygeia Healthcare Holdings (HKG:6078) has had a rough three months with its share price down 29%. However, stock prices are usually driven by a company’s financial performance over the long term, which in this case looks quite promising. Particularly, we will be paying attention to Hygeia Healthcare Holdings' ROE today.

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. In short, ROE shows the profit each dollar generates with respect to its shareholder investments.

Check out our latest analysis for Hygeia Healthcare Holdings

How To 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 Hygeia Healthcare Holdings is:

11% = CN¥735m ÷ CN¥6.6b (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2024).

The 'return' is the profit over the last twelve months. So, this means that for every HK$1 of its shareholder's investments, the company generates a profit of HK$0.11.

What Is The Relationship Between ROE And Earnings Growth?

We have already established that ROE serves as an efficient profit-generating gauge for a company's future earnings. 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. 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.

Hygeia Healthcare Holdings' Earnings Growth And 11% ROE

At first glance, Hygeia Healthcare Holdings seems to have a decent ROE. Especially when compared to the industry average of 7.2% the company's ROE looks pretty impressive. Probably as a result of this, Hygeia Healthcare Holdings 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 instance, the company has a low payout ratio or is being managed efficiently.

As a next step, we compared Hygeia Healthcare Holdings' 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 12%.

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 Hygeia Healthcare Holdings is trading on a high P/E or a low P/E, relative to its industry.

Is Hygeia Healthcare Holdings Efficiently Re-investing Its Profits?

While the company did pay out a portion of its dividend in the past, it currently doesn't pay a regular dividend. This is likely what's driving the high earnings growth number discussed above.

Conclusion

In total, we are pretty happy with Hygeia Healthcare Holdings' 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. With that said, the latest industry analyst forecasts reveal that the company's earnings growth is expected to slow down. 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.