Is IHI Corporation's (TSE:7013) Stock's Recent Performance Being Led By Its Attractive Financial Prospects?

IHI (TSE:7013) has had a great run on the share market with its stock up by a significant 33% over the last three months. Since the market usually pay for a company’s long-term fundamentals, we decided to study the company’s key performance indicators to see if they could be influencing the market. Particularly, we will be paying attention to IHI'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 simpler terms, it measures the profitability of a company in relation to shareholder's equity.

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How Is ROE Calculated?

The formula for ROE is:

Return on Equity = Net Profit (from continuing operations) ÷ Shareholders' Equity

So, based on the above formula, the ROE for IHI is:

21% = JP¥110b ÷ JP¥515b (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2025).

The 'return' refers to a company's earnings over the last year. Another way to think of that is that for every ¥1 worth of equity, the company was able to earn ¥0.21 in profit.

View our latest analysis for IHI

What Is The Relationship Between ROE And 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. 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.

IHI's Earnings Growth And 21% ROE

First thing first, we like that IHI has an impressive ROE. Additionally, the company's ROE is higher compared to the industry average of 7.6% which is quite remarkable. Probably as a result of this, IHI was able to see a decent net income growth of 11% over the last five years.

We then performed a comparison between IHI's net income growth with the industry, which revealed that the company's growth is similar to the average industry growth of 13% in the same 5-year period.

Earnings growth is a huge factor in stock valuation. The investor should try to establish if the expected growth or decline in earnings, whichever the case may be, is priced in. By doing so, they will have an idea if the stock is headed into clear blue waters or if swampy waters await. Is IHI fairly valued compared to other companies? These 3 valuation measures might help you decide.

Is IHI Using Its Retained Earnings Effectively?

IHI has a low three-year median payout ratio of 16%, meaning that the company retains the remaining 84% of its profits. This suggests that the management is reinvesting most of the profits to grow the business.

Additionally, IHI 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.

Summary

Overall, we are quite pleased with IHI's performance. 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. On studying current analyst estimates, we found that analysts expect the company to continue its recent growth streak. 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.