Derkwoo Electronics Co., Ltd's (KOSDAQ:263600) Has Had A Decent Run On The Stock market: Are Fundamentals In The Driver's Seat?

Most readers would already know that Derkwoo Electronics' (KOSDAQ:263600) stock increased by 4.9% over the past three months. As most would know, long-term fundamentals have a strong correlation with market price movements, 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. In this article, we decided to focus on Derkwoo Electronics' ROE.

Return on equity or ROE is a key measure used to assess how efficiently a company's management is utilizing the company's capital. In simpler terms, it measures the profitability of a company in relation to shareholder's equity.

See our latest analysis for Derkwoo Electronics

How To Calculate Return On Equity?

The formula for ROE is:

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

So, based on the above formula, the ROE for Derkwoo Electronics is:

19% = ₩17b ÷ ₩91b (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2020).

The 'return' is the yearly profit. That means that for every ₩1 worth of shareholders' equity, the company generated ₩0.19 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. 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. 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.

A Side By Side comparison of Derkwoo Electronics' Earnings Growth And 19% ROE

At first glance, Derkwoo Electronics seems to have a decent ROE. Further, the company's ROE compares quite favorably to the industry average of 5.7%. As you might expect, the 9.2% net income decline reported by Derkwoo Electronics is a bit of a surprise. Based on this, we feel that there might be other reasons which haven't been discussed so far in this article that could be hampering the company's growth. Such as, the company pays out a huge portion of its earnings as dividends, or is faced with competitive pressures.

As a next step, we compared Derkwoo Electronics' performance with the industry and found thatDerkwoo Electronics' performance is depressing even when compared with the industry, which has shrunk its earnings at a rate of 0.5% in the same period, which is a slower than the company.

The basis for attaching value to a company is, to a great extent, tied to its earnings growth. 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. If you're wondering about Derkwoo Electronics''s valuation, check out this gauge of its price-to-earnings ratio, as compared to its industry.

Is Derkwoo Electronics Making Efficient Use Of Its Profits?

Derkwoo Electronics' low three-year median payout ratio of 15% (implying that it retains the remaining 85% of its profits) comes as a surprise when you pair it with the shrinking earnings. This typically shouldn't be the case when a company is retaining most of its earnings. It looks like there might be some other reasons to explain the lack in that respect. For example, the business could be in decline.

Additionally, Derkwoo Electronics started paying a dividend only recently. So it looks like the management may have perceived that shareholders favor dividends even though earnings have been in decline.

Conclusion

In total, it does look like Derkwoo Electronics has some positive aspects to its business. However, given the high ROE and high profit retention, we would expect the company to be delivering strong earnings growth, but that isn't the case here. This suggests that there might be some external threat to the business, that's hampering its 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. To know the 2 risks we have identified for Derkwoo Electronics visit our risks dashboard for free.

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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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