Does The Market Have A Low Tolerance For Sunty Development Co., LTD's (TPE:3266) Mixed Fundamentals?

It is hard to get excited after looking at Sunty Development's (TPE:3266) recent performance, when its stock has declined 12% over the past three months. We, however decided to study the company's financials to determine if they have got anything to do with the price decline. Long-term fundamentals are usually what drive market outcomes, so it's worth paying close attention. In this article, we decided to focus on Sunty Development's ROE.

Return on Equity or ROE is a test of how effectively a company is growing its value and managing investors’ money. In other words, it is a profitability ratio which measures the rate of return on the capital provided by the company's shareholders.

View our latest analysis for Sunty Development

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 Sunty Development is:

2.9% = NT$165m ÷ NT$5.6b (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2020).

The 'return' is the amount earned after tax over the last twelve months. Another way to think of that is that for every NT$1 worth of equity, the company was able to earn NT$0.03 in profit.

What Has ROE Got To Do With Earnings Growth?

Thus far, we have learned that ROE measures how efficiently a company is generating its profits. 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 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.

Sunty Development's Earnings Growth And 2.9% ROE

When you first look at it, Sunty Development's ROE doesn't look that attractive. Next, when compared to the average industry ROE of 7.7%, the company's ROE leaves us feeling even less enthusiastic. In spite of this, Sunty Development was able to grow its net income considerably, at a rate of 72% in the last five years. So, 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.

Next, on comparing with the industry net income growth, we found that Sunty Development's growth is quite high when compared to the industry average growth of 4.5% in the same period, which is great to see.

The basis for attaching value to a company is, to a great extent, tied to its earnings growth. What investors need to determine next is if the expected earnings growth, or the lack of it, is already built into the share price. Doing so will help them establish if the stock's future looks promising or ominous. 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 Sunty Development is trading on a high P/E or a low P/E, relative to its industry.

Is Sunty Development Using Its Retained Earnings Effectively?

Sunty Development has very a high three-year median payout ratio of 108% suggesting that the company's shareholders are getting paid from more than just the company's earnings. In spite of this, the company was able to grow its earnings significantly, as we saw above. Although, it could be worth keeping an eye on the high payout ratio as that's a huge risk. You can see the 2 risks we have identified for Sunty Development by visiting our risks dashboard for free on our platform here.

Moreover, Sunty Development is determined to keep sharing its profits with shareholders which we infer from its long history of paying a dividend for at least ten years.

Summary

On the whole, we feel that the performance shown by Sunty Development can be open to many interpretations. Although the company has shown a pretty impressive growth in earnings, yet the low ROE and the low rate of reinvestment makes us skeptical about the continuity of that growth, especially when or if the business comes to face any threats. 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 Sunty Development 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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