How Did Genscript Biotech Corporation’s (HKG:1548) 11.83% ROE Fare Against The Industry?

Genscript Biotech Corporation (SEHK:1548) delivered an ROE of 11.83% over the past 12 months, which is relatively in-line with its industry average of 9.90% during the same period. However, whether this ROE is actually impressive depends on if it can be maintained. Sustainability can be gauged by a company’s financial leverage – the more debt it has, the higher ROE is pumped up in the short term, at the expense of long term interest payment burden. Let me show you what I mean by this. See our latest analysis for Genscript Biotech

What you must know about ROE

Firstly, Return on Equity, or ROE, is simply the percentage of last years’ earning against the book value of shareholders’ equity. An ROE of 11.83% implies HK$0.12 returned on every HK$1 invested, so the higher the return, the better. Investors that are diversifying their portfolio based on industry may want to maximise their return in the Life Sciences Tools and Services sector by choosing the highest returning stock. However, this can be deceiving as each company has varying costs of equity and debt levels, which could exaggeratedly push up ROE at the same time as accumulating high interest expense.

Returns are usually compared to costs to measure the efficiency of capital. Genscript Biotech’s cost of equity is 8.76%. Since Genscript Biotech’s return covers its cost in excess of 3.06%, its use of equity capital is efficient and likely to be sustainable. Simply put, Genscript Biotech pays less for its capital than what it generates in return. ROE can be split up into three useful ratios: net profit margin, asset turnover, and financial leverage. This is called the Dupont Formula:

Basically, profit margin measures how much of revenue trickles down into earnings which illustrates how efficient the business is with its cost management. Asset turnover reveals how much revenue can be generated from Genscript Biotech’s asset base. And finally, financial leverage is simply how much of assets are funded by equity, which exhibits how sustainable the company’s capital structure is. We can assess whether Genscript Biotech is fuelling ROE by excessively raising debt. Ideally, Genscript Biotech should have a balanced capital structure, which we can check by looking at the historic debt-to-equity ratio of the company. Currently, Genscript Biotech has no debt which means its returns are driven purely by equity capital. Therefore, the level of financial leverage has no impact on ROE, and the ratio is a representative measure of the efficiency of all its capital employed firm-wide.

Next Steps:

ROE is one of many ratios which meaningfully dissects financial statements, which illustrates the quality of a company. Genscript Biotech exhibits a strong ROE against its peers, as well as sufficient returns to cover its cost of equity. ROE is not likely to be inflated by excessive debt funding, giving shareholders more conviction in the sustainability of high returns. ROE is a helpful signal, but it is definitely not sufficient on its own to make an investment decision.

For Genscript Biotech, I’ve compiled three important aspects you should further research:

1. Financial Health: Does it have a healthy balance sheet? Take a look at our free balance sheet analysis with six simple checks on key factors like leverage and risk.
2. Valuation: What is Genscript Biotech worth today? Is the stock undervalued, even when its growth outlook is factored into its intrinsic value? The intrinsic value infographic in our free research report helps visualize whether Genscript Biotech is currently mispriced by the market.
3. Other High-Growth Alternatives : Are there other high-growth stocks you could be holding instead of Genscript Biotech? Explore our interactive list of stocks with large growth potential to get an idea of what else is out there you may be missing!