Newtree Co., Ltd.'s (KOSDAQ:270870) Stock Is Going Strong: Have Financials A Role To Play?

Newtree (KOSDAQ:270870) has had a great run on the share market with its stock up by a significant 50% over the last three months. Given that stock prices are usually aligned with a company's financial performance in the long-term, we decided to study its financial indicators more closely to see if they had a hand to play in the recent price move. In this article, we decided to focus on Newtree's ROE.

Return on equity or ROE is an important factor to be considered by a shareholder because it tells them how effectively their capital is being reinvested. In short, ROE shows the profit each dollar generates with respect to its shareholder investments.

Check out our latest analysis for Newtree

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 Newtree is:

8.5% = ₩9.0b ÷ ₩106b (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2024).

The 'return' is the yearly profit. One way to conceptualize this is that for each ₩1 of shareholders' capital it has, the company made ₩0.08 in profit.

What Is The Relationship Between ROE And 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.

Newtree's Earnings Growth And 8.5% ROE

At first glance, Newtree's ROE doesn't look very promising. However, the fact that the its ROE is quite higher to the industry average of 6.9% doesn't go unnoticed by us. But then again, seeing that Newtree's net income shrunk at a rate of 15% in the past five years, makes us think again. Bear in mind, the company does have a slightly low ROE. It is just that the industry ROE is lower. Hence, this goes some way in explaining the shrinking earnings.

However, when we compared Newtree's growth with the industry we found that while the company's earnings have been shrinking, the industry has seen an earnings growth of 3.4% in the same period. This is quite worrisome.

Earnings growth is an important metric to consider when valuing a stock. What investors need to determine next is if the expected earnings growth, or the lack of it, is already built into the share price. Doing so will help them establish if the stock's future looks promising or ominous. If you're wondering about Newtree's's valuation, check out this gauge of its price-to-earnings ratio, as compared to its industry.

Is Newtree Making Efficient Use Of Its Profits?

Newtree's low three-year median payout ratio of 12% (or a retention ratio of 88%) 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 might be other factors at play here which could potentially be hampering growth. For instance, the business has faced some headwinds.

Additionally, Newtree has paid dividends over a period of five years, which means that the company's management is rather focused on keeping up its dividend payments, regardless of the shrinking earnings.

Conclusion

In total, it does look like Newtree has some positive aspects to its business. Although, we are disappointed to see a lack of growth in earnings even in spite of a moderate ROE and and a high reinvestment rate. We believe that there might be some outside factors that could be having a negative impact on the business. 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 3 risks we have identified for Newtree.

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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.