SMRT Holdings Berhad's (KLSE:SMRT) Stock On An Uptrend: Could Fundamentals Be Driving The Momentum?

SMRT Holdings Berhad (KLSE:SMRT) has had a great run on the share market with its stock up by a significant 43% over the last three months. We wonder if and what role the company's financials play in that price change as a company's long-term fundamentals usually dictate market outcomes. Particularly, we will be paying attention to SMRT Holdings Berhad's ROE today.

ROE or return on equity is a useful tool to assess how effectively a company can generate returns on the investment it received from its shareholders. In other words, it is a profitability ratio which measures the rate of return on the capital provided by the company's shareholders.

See our latest analysis for SMRT Holdings Berhad

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 SMRT Holdings Berhad is:

29% = RM12m ÷ RM39m (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2023).

The 'return' is the yearly profit. Another way to think of that is that for every MYR1 worth of equity, the company was able to earn MYR0.29 in profit.

Why Is ROE Important For 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. 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.

SMRT Holdings Berhad's Earnings Growth And 29% ROE

Firstly, we acknowledge that SMRT Holdings Berhad has a significantly high ROE. Secondly, even when compared to the industry average of 11% the company's ROE is quite impressive. For this reason, SMRT Holdings Berhad's five year net income decline of 30% raises the question as to why the high ROE didn't translate into earnings growth. We reckon that there could be some other factors at play here that are preventing the company's growth. For example, it could be that the company has a high payout ratio or the business has allocated capital poorly, for instance.

However, when we compared SMRT Holdings Berhad's growth with the industry we found that while the company's earnings have been shrinking, the industry has seen an earnings growth of 8.1% in the same period. This is quite worrisome.

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. This then helps them determine if the stock is placed for a bright or bleak future. What is SMRT worth today? The intrinsic value infographic in our free research report helps visualize whether SMRT is currently mispriced by the market.

Is SMRT Holdings Berhad Making Efficient Use Of Its Profits?

SMRT Holdings Berhad doesn't pay any dividend, meaning that potentially all of its profits are being reinvested in the business, which doesn't explain why the company's earnings have shrunk if it is retaining all of its profits. So there might be other factors at play here which could potentially be hampering growth. For example, the business has faced some headwinds.

Summary

In total, it does look like SMRT Holdings Berhad 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. That being so, the latest industry analyst forecasts show that the analysts are expecting to see a huge improvement in the company's earnings growth rate. 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.