Zhaojin Mining Industry Company Limited's (HKG:1818) Financials Are Too Obscure To Link With Current Share Price Momentum: What's In Store For the Stock?

Zhaojin Mining Industry (HKG:1818) has had a great run on the share market with its stock up by a significant 30% over the last three months. However, we decided to pay attention to the company's fundamentals which don't appear to give a clear sign about the company's financial health. Particularly, we will be paying attention to Zhaojin Mining Industry'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.

See our latest analysis for Zhaojin Mining Industry

How Do You Calculate Return On Equity?

Return on equity 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 Zhaojin Mining Industry is:

2.9% = CN¥572m ÷ CN¥20b (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2023).

The 'return' is the amount earned after tax over the last twelve months. That means that for every HK$1 worth of shareholders' equity, the company generated HK$0.03 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. 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.

Zhaojin Mining Industry's Earnings Growth And 2.9% ROE

It is quite clear that Zhaojin Mining Industry's ROE is rather low. Even when compared to the industry average of 9.5%, the ROE figure is pretty disappointing. Therefore, it might not be wrong to say that the five year net income decline of 11% seen by Zhaojin Mining Industry was possibly a result of it having a lower ROE. However, there could also be other factors causing the earnings to decline. For instance, the company has a very high payout ratio, or is faced with competitive pressures.

However, when we compared Zhaojin Mining Industry's growth with the industry we found that while the company's earnings have been shrinking, the industry has seen an earnings growth of 27% in the same period. This is quite worrisome.

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. This then helps them determine if the stock is placed for a bright or bleak future. Is Zhaojin Mining Industry fairly valued compared to other companies? These 3 valuation measures might help you decide.

Is Zhaojin Mining Industry Efficiently Re-investing Its Profits?

Zhaojin Mining Industry's low three-year median payout ratio of 25% (or a retention ratio of 75%) over the last three years should mean that the company is retaining most of its earnings to fuel its growth but the company's earnings have actually shrunk. This typically shouldn't be the case when a company is retaining most of its earnings. So there could be some other explanations in that regard. For example, the company's business may be deteriorating.

In addition, Zhaojin Mining Industry has been paying dividends over a period of at least ten years suggesting that keeping up dividend payments is way more important to the management even if it comes at the cost of business growth.

Conclusion

On the whole, we feel that the performance shown by Zhaojin Mining Industry can be open to many interpretations. While the company does have a high rate of profit retention, its low rate of return is probably hampering its earnings growth. Having said that, looking at current analyst estimates, we found that the company's earnings growth rate is expected to see a huge improvement. 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.