Rafael Microelectronics, Inc.'s (GTSM:6568) Stock On An Uptrend: Could Fundamentals Be Driving The Momentum?

Rafael Microelectronics (GTSM:6568) has had a great run on the share market with its stock up by a significant 11% over the last month. 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 Rafael Microelectronics' 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 short, ROE shows the profit each dollar generates with respect to its shareholder investments.

View our latest analysis for Rafael Microelectronics

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 Rafael Microelectronics is:

10% = NT$140m ÷ NT$1.4b (Based on the trailing twelve months to September 2020).

The 'return' is the income the business earned over the last year. So, this means that for every NT$1 of its shareholder's investments, the company generates a profit of NT$0.10.

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. 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.

Rafael Microelectronics' Earnings Growth And 10% ROE

At first glance, Rafael Microelectronics seems to have a decent ROE. Even when compared to the industry average of 11% the company's ROE looks quite decent. Despite this, Rafael Microelectronics' five year net income growth was quite flat over 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.

Next, on comparing with the industry net income growth, we found that the industry grew its earnings by8.9% in the same period.

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. Is Rafael Microelectronics fairly valued compared to other companies? These 3 valuation measures might help you decide.

Is Rafael Microelectronics Making Efficient Use Of Its Profits?

With a high three-year median payout ratio of 58% (implying that the company keeps only 42% of its income) of its business to reinvest into its business), most of Rafael Microelectronics' profits are being paid to shareholders, which explains the absence of growth in earnings.

In addition, Rafael Microelectronics has been paying dividends over a period of five years suggesting that keeping up dividend payments is way more important to the management even if it comes at the cost of business growth.

Conclusion

Overall, we feel that Rafael Microelectronics certainly does have some positive factors to consider. Yet, the low earnings growth is a bit concerning, especially given that the company has a high rate of return. Investors could have benefitted from the high ROE, had the company been reinvesting more of its earnings. As discussed earlier, the company is retaining a small portion of its profits. Until now, we have only just grazed the surface of the company's past performance by looking at the company's fundamentals. So it may be worth checking this free detailed graph of Rafael Microelectronics' past earnings, as well as revenue and cash flows to get a deeper insight into the company's performance.

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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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