CoAsia Corporation's (KOSDAQ:045970) Stock Has Seen Strong Momentum: Does That Call For Deeper Study Of Its Financial Prospects?

CoAsia (KOSDAQ:045970) has had a great run on the share market with its stock up by a significant 40% over the last three months. As most would know, fundamentals are what usually guide market price movements over the long-term, so we decided to look at the company's key financial indicators today to determine if they have any role to play in the recent price movement. Particularly, we will be paying attention to CoAsia's ROE today.

Return on Equity or ROE is a test of how effectively a company is growing its value and managing investors’ money. Put another way, it reveals the company's success at turning shareholder investments into profits.

See our latest analysis for CoAsia

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 CoAsia is:

2.6% = ₩3.8b ÷ ₩145b (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2020).

The 'return' is the income the business earned over the last year. One way to conceptualize this is that for each ₩1 of shareholders' capital it has, the company made ₩0.03 in profit.

What Is The Relationship Between ROE And Earnings Growth?

We have already established that ROE serves as an efficient profit-generating gauge for a company's future earnings. 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 all else is equal, companies that have both a higher return on equity and higher profit retention are usually the ones that have a higher growth rate when compared to companies that don't have the same features.

A Side By Side comparison of CoAsia's Earnings Growth And 2.6% ROE

It is quite clear that CoAsia's ROE is rather low. Even compared to the average industry ROE of 5.4%, the company's ROE is quite dismal. CoAsia was still able to see a decent net income growth of 9.4% over the past five years. We believe that there might be other aspects that are positively influencing the company's earnings growth. For instance, the company has a low payout ratio or is being managed efficiently.

We then compared CoAsia's net income growth with the industry and we're pleased to see that the company's growth figure is higher when compared with the industry which has a growth rate of 2.3% in the same period.

The basis for attaching value to a company is, to a great extent, tied to its earnings growth. It’s important for an investor to know whether the market has priced in the company's expected earnings growth (or decline). This then helps them determine if the stock is placed for a bright or bleak future. If you're wondering about CoAsia's's valuation, check out this gauge of its price-to-earnings ratio, as compared to its industry.

Is CoAsia Efficiently Re-investing Its Profits?

CoAsia has a three-year median payout ratio of 27%, which implies that it retains the remaining 73% of its profits. This suggests that its dividend is well covered, and given the decent growth seen by the company, it looks like management is reinvesting its earnings efficiently.

Along with seeing a growth in earnings, CoAsia only recently started paying dividends. Its quite possible that the company was looking to impress its shareholders.

Summary

In total, it does look like CoAsia has some positive aspects to its business. Despite its low rate of return, the fact that the company reinvests a very high portion of its profits into its business, no doubt contributed to its high earnings growth. 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. You can see the 3 risks we have identified for CoAsia by visiting our risks dashboard for free on our platform here.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. 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.
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