Goodway Machine Corp. (TPE:1583) On An Uptrend: Could Fundamentals Be Driving The Stock?

Goodway Machine's (TPE:1583) stock is up by 5.7% over the past 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. In this article, we decided to focus on Goodway Machine's 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.

Check out our latest analysis for Goodway Machine

How Is ROE Calculated?

ROE can be calculated by using the formula:

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

So, based on the above formula, the ROE for Goodway Machine is:

9.9% = NT$623m ÷ NT$6.3b (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2020).

The 'return' is the amount earned after tax over the last twelve months. So, this means that for every NT$1 of its shareholder's investments, the company generates a profit of NT$0.10.

Why Is ROE Important For Earnings Growth?

We have already established that ROE serves as an efficient profit-generating gauge for a company's future earnings. 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.

Goodway Machine's Earnings Growth And 9.9% ROE

To start with, Goodway Machine's ROE looks acceptable. Further, the company's ROE is similar to the industry average of 9.7%. Given the circumstances, we can't help but wonder why Goodway Machine saw little to no growth in the past five years. 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. For example, it could be that the company has a high payout ratio or the business has allocated capital poorly, for instance.

As a next step, we compared Goodway Machine's net income growth with the industry and discovered that the company's growth is slightly less than the industry average growth of 1.2% in the same period.

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. By doing so, they will have an idea if the stock is headed into clear blue waters or if swampy waters await. If you're wondering about Goodway Machine's's valuation, check out this gauge of its price-to-earnings ratio, as compared to its industry.

Is Goodway Machine Using Its Retained Earnings Effectively?

Goodway Machine has a high three-year median payout ratio of 67% (or a retention ratio of 33%), meaning that the company is paying most of its profits as dividends to its shareholders. This does go some way in explaining why there's been no growth in its earnings.

Additionally, Goodway Machine has paid dividends over a period of at least ten years, which means that the company's management is determined to pay dividends even if it means little to no earnings growth.

Conclusion

On the whole, we do feel that Goodway Machine has some positive attributes. However, while the company does have a high ROE, its earnings growth number is quite disappointing. This can be blamed on the fact that it reinvests only a small portion of its profits and pays out the rest as dividends. Until now, we have only just grazed the surface of the company's past performance by looking at the company's fundamentals. You can do your own research on Goodway Machine and see how it has performed in the past by looking at this FREE detailed graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flows.

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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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