Should Weakness in Ganga Forging Limited's (NSE:GANGAFORGE) Stock Be Seen As A Sign That Market Will Correct The Share Price Given Decent Financials?

Ganga Forging (NSE:GANGAFORGE) has had a rough three months with its share price down 12%. However, stock prices are usually driven by a company’s financials over the long term, which in this case look pretty respectable. In this article, we decided to focus on Ganga Forging'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. Simply put, it is used to assess the profitability of a company in relation to its equity capital.

Check out our latest analysis for Ganga Forging

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 Ganga Forging is:

2.1% = ₹6.7m ÷ ₹321m (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2024).

The 'return' is the amount earned after tax over the last twelve months. One way to conceptualize this is that for each ₹1 of shareholders' capital it has, the company made ₹0.02 in profit.

What Has ROE Got To Do With Earnings Growth?

So far, we've learned that ROE is a measure of a company's profitability. 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. 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.

Ganga Forging's Earnings Growth And 2.1% ROE

It is hard to argue that Ganga Forging's ROE is much good in and of itself. Even when compared to the industry average of 12%, the ROE figure is pretty disappointing. Despite this, surprisingly, Ganga Forging saw an exceptional 52% net income growth over the past five years. Therefore, there could be other reasons behind this growth. Such as - high earnings retention or an efficient management in place.

Next, on comparing with the industry net income growth, we found that Ganga Forging's growth is quite high when compared to the industry average growth of 28% in the same period, which is great to see.

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. Doing so will help them establish if the stock's future looks promising or ominous. 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 Ganga Forging is trading on a high P/E or a low P/E, relative to its industry.

Is Ganga Forging Efficiently Re-investing Its Profits?

Ganga Forging doesn't pay any regular dividends currently which essentially means that it has been reinvesting all of its profits into the business. This definitely contributes to the high earnings growth number that we discussed above.

Summary

In total, it does look like Ganga Forging has some positive aspects to its business. With a high rate of reinvestment, albeit at a low ROE, the company has managed to see a considerable growth in its earnings. While we won't completely dismiss the company, what we would do, is try to ascertain how risky the business is to make a more informed decision around the company. Our risks dashboard would have the 5 risks we have identified for Ganga Forging.

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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.