Is Kunlun Energy Company Limited's (HKG:135) Stock's Recent Performance A Reflection Of Its Financial Health?

Most readers would already know that Kunlun Energy's (HKG:135) stock increased by 1.7% over the past week. Since the market usually pay for a company’s long-term financial health, we decided to study the company’s fundamentals to see if they could be influencing the market. In this article, we decided to focus on Kunlun Energy's ROE.

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 simpler terms, it measures the profitability of a company in relation to shareholder's equity.

See our latest analysis for Kunlun Energy

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 Kunlun Energy is:

11% = CN¥9.5b ÷ CN¥87b (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2024).

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

What Has ROE Got To Do With Earnings Growth?

We have already established that ROE serves as an efficient profit-generating gauge for a company's future earnings. We now need to evaluate how much profit the company reinvests or "retains" for future growth which then gives us an idea about the growth potential of the company. 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 Kunlun Energy's Earnings Growth And 11% ROE

To begin with, Kunlun Energy seems to have a respectable ROE. Further, the company's ROE compares quite favorably to the industry average of 8.4%. Probably as a result of this, Kunlun Energy was able to see a decent growth of 14% over the last five years.

Next, on comparing with the industry net income growth, we found that the growth figure reported by Kunlun Energy compares quite favourably to the industry average, which shows a decline of 1.1% over the last few years.

The basis for attaching value to a company is, to a great extent, tied to its earnings growth. 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. What is 135 worth today? The intrinsic value infographic in our free research report helps visualize whether 135 is currently mispriced by the market.

Is Kunlun Energy Making Efficient Use Of Its Profits?

With a three-year median payout ratio of 40% (implying that the company retains 60% of its profits), it seems that Kunlun Energy is reinvesting efficiently in a way that it sees respectable amount growth in its earnings and pays a dividend that's well covered.

Additionally, Kunlun Energy has paid dividends over a period of at least ten years which means that the company is pretty serious about sharing its profits with shareholders. Our latest analyst data shows that the future payout ratio of the company over the next three years is expected to be approximately 47%. As a result, Kunlun Energy's ROE is not expected to change by much either, which we inferred from the analyst estimate of 9.9% for future ROE.

Conclusion

On the whole, we feel that Kunlun Energy'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. 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.