ASolid Technology Co., Ltd.'s (GTSM:6485) Stock Is Rallying But Financials Look Ambiguous: Will The Momentum Continue?

ASolid Technology (GTSM:6485) has had a great run on the share market with its stock up by a significant 135% over the last three months. However, we wonder if the company's inconsistent financials would have any adverse impact on the current share price momentum. Particularly, we will be paying attention to ASolid Technology's ROE today.

Return on equity or ROE is an important factor to be considered by a shareholder because it tells them how effectively their capital is being reinvested. 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 ASolid Technology

How To Calculate Return On Equity?

Return on equity 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 ASolid Technology is:

1.8% = NT$17m ÷ NT$954m (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$0.02 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. 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.

ASolid Technology's Earnings Growth And 1.8% ROE

As you can see, ASolid Technology's ROE looks pretty weak. Even when compared to the industry average of 11%, the ROE figure is pretty disappointing. For this reason, ASolid Technology's five year net income decline of 24% is not surprising given its lower ROE. However, there could also be other factors causing the earnings to decline. Such as - low earnings retention or poor allocation of capital.

So, as a next step, we compared ASolid Technology's performance against the industry and were disappointed to discover that while the company has been shrinking its earnings, the industry has been growing its earnings at a rate of 8.7% in the same period.

Earnings growth is a huge factor in stock valuation. What investors need to determine next is if the expected earnings growth, or the lack of it, is already built into the share price. This then helps them determine if the stock is placed for a bright or bleak future. 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 ASolid Technology is trading on a high P/E or a low P/E, relative to its industry.

Is ASolid Technology Making Efficient Use Of Its Profits?

In spite of a normal three-year median payout ratio of 35% (that is, a retention ratio of 65%), the fact that ASolid Technology's earnings have shrunk is quite puzzling. 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, ASolid Technology has paid dividends over a period of six years, which means that the company's management is rather focused on keeping up its dividend payments, regardless of the shrinking earnings.

Summary

On the whole, we feel that the performance shown by ASolid Technology can be open to many interpretations. While the company does have a high rate of reinvestment, the low ROE means that all that reinvestment is not reaping any benefit to its investors, and moreover, its having a negative impact on the earnings growth. Wrapping up, we would proceed with caution with this company and one way of doing that would be to look at the risk profile of the business. You can see the 5 risks we have identified for ASolid Technology 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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