Is The Market Rewarding UNISEM Co., Ltd. (KOSDAQ:036200) With A Negative Sentiment As A Result Of Its Mixed Fundamentals?

It is hard to get excited after looking at UNISEM's (KOSDAQ:036200) recent performance, when its stock has declined 10% over the past week. It is possible that the markets have ignored the company's differing financials and decided to lean-in to the negative sentiment. Fundamentals usually dictate market outcomes so it makes sense to study the company's financials. In this article, we decided to focus on UNISEM'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 other words, it is a profitability ratio which measures the rate of return on the capital provided by the company's shareholders.

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How Do You Calculate Return On Equity?

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 UNISEM is:

5.7% = ₩13b ÷ ₩232b (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2025).

The 'return' is the profit over the last twelve months. One way to conceptualize this is that for each ₩1 of shareholders' capital it has, the company made ₩0.06 in profit.

See our latest analysis for UNISEM

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. 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. 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.

UNISEM's Earnings Growth And 5.7% ROE

On the face of it, UNISEM's ROE is not much to talk about. Next, when compared to the average industry ROE of 7.8%, the company's ROE leaves us feeling even less enthusiastic. Given the circumstances, the significant decline in net income by 19% seen by UNISEM over the last five years is not surprising. However, there could also be other factors causing the earnings to decline. For example, it is possible that the business has allocated capital poorly or that the company has a very high payout ratio.

However, when we compared UNISEM's growth with the industry we found that while the company's earnings have been shrinking, the industry has seen an earnings growth of 2.3% in the same period. This is quite worrisome.

Earnings growth is a huge factor in stock valuation. What investors need to determine next is if the expected earnings growth, or the lack of it, is already built into the share price. By doing so, they will have an idea if the stock is headed into clear blue waters or if swampy waters await. 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 UNISEM is trading on a high P/E or a low P/E, relative to its industry.

Is UNISEM Using Its Retained Earnings Effectively?

When we piece together UNISEM's low three-year median payout ratio of 18% (where it is retaining 82% of its profits), calculated for the last three-year period, we are puzzled by the lack of growth. 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, UNISEM has paid dividends over a period of six years, which means that the company's management is rather focused on keeping up its dividend payments, regardless of the shrinking earnings. Our latest analyst data shows that the future payout ratio of the company is expected to drop to 6.9% over the next three years. Accordingly, the expected drop in the payout ratio explains the expected increase in the company's ROE to 13%, over the same period.

Conclusion

In total, we're a bit ambivalent about UNISEM's performance. Even though it appears to be retaining most of its profits, given the low ROE, investors may not be benefitting from all that reinvestment after all. The low earnings growth suggests our theory correct. With that said, we studied the latest analyst forecasts and found that while the company has shrunk its earnings in the past, analysts expect its earnings to grow in the future. To know more about the latest analysts predictions for the company, check out this visualization of analyst forecasts 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.